Ronny Deila namechecks Mikey Johnston as Celtic winger eyed by former Parkhead boss

Celtic winger Mikey Johnston has emerged as a transfer target for ex-Hoops boss Ronny Deila. The 23-year-old's progress has been hampered by a number of injuries and he seems set to be shipped out on loan to get his career back on track, as manager Ange Postecoglou revealed this week.

Deila is now in charge of Belgian side Standard Liege and he has been credited with an interest along with a host of English Championship clubs. And the Norwegian boss confirmed Johnston is on his summer wish list, along with countryman Stefan Stranberg, with the defender a free agent after leaving Italian club Salernitana.

Deila said: "I know both of them, but we don't know how it's going to go. A lot of players interest us and if we could recruit all those we wanted, it would be easy.

"We continue to scrutinise the market and we don't want it to go wrong at the moment. when we are trying to sign a player for the club."

The former Scotland Under 21s star has made just 18 league starts for Celtic since his debut in May 2017 in a win over St Johnstone. Johnston finds himself behind James Forrest, Jota, Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda in the pecking order at Parkhead.

Addressing Johnston's future on Friday, Postecoglou said: "We're working with Mikey on that. There's definitely a talented footballer there, but sometimes you just need a different environment to help that happen."

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