NEW BHOY Sam Johnstone didn’t need any persuading to agree a season-long loan to Celtic from Wolves.
But former hero Joe Hart put in a call to make sure the 33-year-old ex-England international keeper didn’t miss the opportunity of joining the Hoops.
Martin O’Neill was eager to supplement his goalkeeper options and Johnstone now joins Viljami Sinisalo and Ross Doohan at the champions and will go straight into Celtic’s Europa League squad that will be submitted to UEFA at 11pm this evening.
After taking his first look around the club’s training HQ at Lennoxtown, Johnstone said: “It’s a great feeling, I’m buzzing to be here and I’m excited to get going.
WELCOME TO CELTIC…Sam Johnstone proudly holds his new jersey.
“I didn’t need convincing by anyone, but Joe Hart rang me the other day just to reiterate what a place this is, what a great group of lads and how the fans are unbelievable.
“Like I said, I didn’t need convincing, but for someone like that to ring me up and reiterate again the size of the club and what it means to people, it just made me so excited to get here and get started.”
Johnstone, speaking to CelticPlayer, continued: “I think everyone knows the goalie groups are a tight-knit group.
“We work closely together every day and, hopefully, I can help Vil and he can help me, and we push each other and we support each other along with the other goalies and the goalie coaches.
“You hear about the size of the club and just being here for a day, you notice how big the club is.
“And the pressure to win, which is what I like – pressure to win, pressure to perform and we all want to win trophies.
“You hear about the atmosphere at the stadium and that’s something I can’t wait to play in front of.”
READY TO GO…Sam Johnstone is introduced to Lennoxtown. Images courtesy CelticPlayer.
Boss O’Neill added: “We are really happy to welcome Sam to Celtic.
“He is a quality keeper with excellent experience at the highest level and I think he will be a very good addition to our goalkeeping team.
“He is really looking forward to joining Celtic, to add competition to our team and we are pleased to bring a goalkeeper of this quality to the club.”
The netminder still has two years to run on his Wolves contract after joining the Midlands outfit in 2024.
Former Manchester United academy prospect Johnstone has made more than 350 first-team appearances during spells with West Brom, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and at Molineux, while representing England four times at full international level.
He underwent surgery towards the end of last season, but has returned to training after regaining full movement in the shoulder and is ready to relaunch his career at the champions.
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