Impressive Celtic loanee earns ‘Mini Messi’ nickname

Celtic had a decent summer transfer window. The club brought in players to strengthen several areas of the pitch, and might be onto some winners in players like Sead Haksabanovic and Alexandro Bernabei, who are starting to make their presence felt at Parkhead. The new arrivals also meant an increase in competition though and led to the departure of a few players, either on loan or on a permanent basis.

Mikey Johnston was one player who headed out loan in search of regular football, with first-team chances looking slim at Celtic.

The winger went after a new experience in Portugal, where he signed for Vitoria Guimaraes on a season-long loan deal.

Johnston put in some impressive displays off the bench for Vitoria early on, and the 23-year-old’s big moment came in the Taca de Portugal, where Vitoria beat Canelas 2010 via a 3-1 scoreline, with the Celtic loanee notching up a brace. The first goal was a thing of beauty as he picked up the ball in his own half and went past four or five defenders, before finding the back of the net.

Celtic loanee hailed as “Mini Messi” in Portugal

As reported by the Daily Record, his maiden strike was a solo run started in his own half and it’s led teammate Tiago Silva to pose the question ” Mini Messi, is that you?'”. On the other hand, there was also Record headlining Johnston’s contributions in the cup ‘Mini Messi takes shape’.

Johnston has been always very highly rated at Celtic. Let’s see if he can go to the next level now. He has the perfect chance to do that in Portugal.

Johnston’s past few years have been marked by one injury after the other, which derailed his Celtic career. Now, if he can stay fit and keep playing like this, he will be back on track, when he returns from his loan spell in Portugal.