Motherwell star told striker to turn down Celtic transfer

Celtic have made quite a few additions to their squad over the past several months and all over the pitch as well. The club brought in twelve new players in the summer, ten on a permanent basis and two on loan. And then, the Hoops made five further additions in the January transfer window. Thus, it is safe to say that the roster of players right now is very different to the one that finished 25 points behind the Rangers last season.

And we have seen the difference on the pitch as well, with Celtic already winning the Scottish League Cup this season and are also sitting three points ahead of the Rangers in the title race.

A lot of credit goes to the new signings and how well they have adjusted to the club and the league. One player who is yet to make his debut for the club though is Johnny Kenny.

The 18-year-old arrived from Sligo Rovers in the January transfer window. And it has emerged that Motherwell’s Ross Tierney had talked to him about his chances of playing first-team football at Celtic. As reported by Football Scotland, he said:

"“I spoke to Johnny about that. There was another club in Scotland interested in him.“Obviously, you’d love to sign for Celtic. But are you going to play?“Last year with Sligo he qualified for Europe, played first-team football and was involved in the international set-up.“At Celtic, let’s be honest, you’re not going to go straight into the first-team. There are a lot of players in front of Johnny. And Celtic can go and buy players of a bigger stature.“It’s his career. He’s good enough to play for Celtic and is still young so he’s got time.”"

Can Kenny become a first-team star at Celtic?

Kenny is still just a teenager. He had broken into the first-team picture at Sligo Rovers already though. According to stats from Transfermarkt, he scored 12 goals in 34 appearances for the club.

Thus, there is no question that he has a lot of potential. But at the same time, one would not expect him to be playing regular first-team football for Celtic this early on in his career.

A loan move away to a club where he can get some consistent minutes might lie in his future. Of course, anything can happen in football, and it is not impossible for him to become a consistent starter for the Hoops soon, similar to what Jeremie Frimpong did a couple of seasons back.