Injury free Mikey Johnston out to 'enjoy football again' at Celtic

Celtic winger Mikey Johnston is looking to put last season’s injury problems behind him and prove his worth at the Scottish champions.

The 23-year-old has only made 28 appearances in the last two seasons and most of those have come from the bench as his career stalled with a string of injury issues.

Despite bursting on to the scene as a teenager he has yet been unable to kick on and fulfil that early potential.

But after a flying start to Celtic’s pre-season with a goal and assist in their opening 7-0 win over Wiener Viktoria he is adamant he can still make an impact at the Hoops in the coming season and enjoy playing football again.

Speaking to Celtic TV from the training camp in Austria he said: “It’s been a long summer and I had a few injuries last year, so I just want to get off to a good start and cruise through the season injury-free and just get fit and enjoy my football again.”

Johnston knows he will be in a fight to nail down a place in the team with tough competition for two-wide places coming from the likes of Jota, James Forrest, Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda but with the Hoops playing in four competitions, including at least six Champions League games, there will be opportunities and he is confident he can prove his worth to the manager if and when he gets the chance.

He said: “I just want to enjoy football again, play my best stuff and show everyone how good I actually am.”

And feeling fitter and stronger he believes he can put the worst of his injury problems behind him permanently with a full pre-season under his belt.

On his injury problems in the last two years he said: “You can’t plan for it but there’s definitely a few things you can do to avoid it and I would say that I am doing a lot better at that and knowing my body more than what I have done before.”