JOHNNY KENNY has swapped chasing the Premiership title with Celtic for aiming at promotion at Bolton.
The Republic of Ireland striker has sealed a loan exit from the champions to join the English League One club until the end of the season.
There had also been interest in Kenny from German side Schalke, but the 22-year-old frontman decided on Wanderers who failed in a £500,000 bid to sign him in the pre-season.
A Celtic statement confirmed: “Johnny Kenny has joined Bolton Wanderers on loan until the end of the season.
“Best of luck, Johnny!”
Kenny is determined to make a success of the temporary switch and said: “I knew there’d been an interest and Bolton reached out to me a lot during the summer, but I wanted to give Celtic a crack I think I have in the last six months.
“But I’m happy to be here now.
“I’ve gained a lot of experience playing at Celtic in front of an amazing crowd every week and I just want to bring those experiences here now and hopefully help the club going forward.
“I want to bring in that winning mentality to the squad because if we win as much as possible, we’ll get to where we want to be and that’s ultimately the aim.”
Kenny, speaking the club website, added: “I hope to bring goals, work-rate and just help the team all round and I think if I can bring the level I can bring, we can get to where we want to.
“I look forward to the next few months. The club is in a brilliant position and we want to go and get promoted – that’s the aim.
“Promotion would be amazing, to bring this club back one division closer to where it should be and I hope I can help the club do that.”
However, the youngster has dropped down the pecking order with Martin O’Neill preferring to play Daizen Maeda in the central attacking role with Sebastian Tounekti on the left wing.
Kelechi Iheanacho is also working his way back to full fitness after cameo appearances against FC Utrecht and Falkirk.
The Hoops have also allowed Shin Yamada to leave on loan in this window with the Japanese international hitman joining Bundesliga 2 outfit Preoßen Munster.
WANT TO KNOW A SECRET? Celtic Confidential is the stunning new book that brings the exclusive inside stories behind the headlines. Alex Gordon’s sixteenth Celtic book is available NOW. Order a copy and get £5 OFF the cover price of £25. All is revealed in a sensational new publication. Just click SHOP HERE and your book will be on its way. Happy reading!
