Celtic have added to their squad weeks before the January transfer window opened by bringing in Yuki Kobayashi and Alistair Johnston. Both players will only be eligible to start playing first-team football from next month but they are free to train with their new teammates. That will give them some valuable time to settle in. The Japanese centre-back has already joined up with the squad, while the Canadian defender has recently returned from his World Cup campaign as well.
There are high hopes from Johnston. He was one of the standout defenders in the MLS and impressed while representing Canada at the World Cup as well, even though they were eliminated from the group stages itself.
Johnston will need to settle in quickly as well, as there is a good chance that he might be a starter very soon if Josip Juranovic does end up leaving the club in January as many rumours have suggested after his brilliant World Cup campaign.
Johnston seems to be taking some inspiration from former Celtic left-back, Kieran Tierney, as well. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, the Canadian international told fan media:
"“There are so many full-backs now with the way the game is evolving. You see a guy like Trent (Alexander-Arnold) come in and pinging diagonals all the time.“There’s been some very good ones that have come through Celtic as well. I think of Kieran Tierney.“Just another guy who could get up and down the park, the fittest guy on the field and loves to defend. That’s something I’d love to be.”"
Celtic’s newest signing makes Tierney claim
Tierney is certainly one of the best players to ever come out of Celtic’s youth system. He established himself as a star at Parkhead before getting a big move down South.
In the summer of 2019, Arsenal shelled out a transfer fee in the region of £25 million to sign Tierney from Celtic and since then, he has proven himself in the Premier League as well, and earned links with clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Thus, it is safe to say that Johnston is taking inspiration from some pretty good players and if he turns out to be half as good as Tierney, Celtic have quite the player on their hands.