CELTIC cannot afford to even think about allowing Alistair Johnston to leave the club at the moment.
That is the firm verdict from former Hoops goal hero Chris Sutton as the news Everton are lining up a bid before the September 3 transfer deadline.
The one-time England international striker insists his old club should NOT be thinking of parting company with the Canadian World Cup right-back before their Champions League play-off encounters later this month.
The Hoops will learn their opponents when the draw is made on Monday and Sutton is adamant that Johnston has a key role to play as Martin O’Neill’s side prepares to gatecrash the £40million league stage of Europe’s elite competition.
THE £40MILLION QUESTION…can Celtic afford to allow Alistair Johnston to leave before the Champions League qualifiers?
The media pundit said: “Alistair Johnston was huge for Celtic in the run-in last season.
“Everton have made a move, but Celtic simply can’t afford to lose him right now.
“I got some flak for saying they should have held off selling Daizen Maeda until after the Champions League play-off, but I stick by it.
“The same goes for Johnston. He’s a massive player on the pitch and a leader in the dressing room. The Premier League doesn’t kick off until August 22, which is after the play-off first leg.”
Sutton, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “Celtic shouldn’t be answering the phone until after then, because how the heck would you replace someone like Johnston for the biggest game of the season?
“You can’t. We saw last season when Celtic drafted in Julian Araujo from Bournemouth.
“That was a player who was on EPL money and had played at a high level – but he was still short of the standards set by Johnston.
LOOKING AHEAD…Alistair Johnston wonders what the future holds in store.
“Celtic don’t seem in a hurry to sell at all – and that is a positive – because there are already a lot of questions going into the new campaign and the European qualifier is now just over two weeks away.”
Sutton added: “We still don’t really know how Celtic will line up – or who will be in the team.
“That’s got to be a concern for Martin O’Neill at this stage. I know the transfer market can be difficult, but they should have been attacking it ferociously to get ready for the challenge.
“No-one should dismiss the calibre of the opposition given what happened against Kairat Almaty 12 months ago.”
As well as not being able to afford Johnston, 27, to leave at the moment, Celtic cannot afford to repeat the costly errors of last season when they failed to score in three-and-a-half hours against the Kazakhstan minnows before crashing out on penalty-kicks.
Surely, a harsh lesson was learned in this sad chapter in the club’s recent history.
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