Celtic youngster agrees loan move to Premiership rivals as outgoing keeper delivers brutal Hoops verdict

Celtic youngster Adam Montgomery has joined St Johnstone on loan ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

The 19-year-old will head to McDiarmid Park until January after the Perth club suffered a double left-back injury blow.

Manager Callum Davidson has moved quickly to agree a deal with the Hoops for the highly-rated defender after injuries sustained to Callum Booth and Tony Gallagher, which are likely to keep them out for the forseeable future.

Booth has been troubled by an Achilles problem, while Gallagher broke his leg against Livingston in April and is still in rehab.

Both players will miss the Premier Sports Cup group stage campaign and are expected to still be sidelined when the Scottish Premiership kicks off in late July.

Montgomery, who spent the second half of last season with Aberdeen, is now due to fly out to Spain to meet his new team mates later today at their Murcia training base.

His arrival provides Saints with much-needed defensive cover on the left-hand side as they look to improve on last season’s disappointing campaign.

Montgomery began his career at Parkhead as a striker but has since been transformed into an attacking left wing-back under first-team manager Ange Postecoglou.

The teenager made 18 appearances for the Hoops last season, including several Europa League matches before a hamstring injury limited his game time at Pittodrie to just eight starts.

Meanwhile, departing Greek goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas admits he wouldn’t recommend signing for the Scottish champions to any other stopper following his disasterous spell in Glasgow.

The 28-year-old, who joined Celtic for a fee in the region of £4.5million in July 2020 during the Covid pandemic, struggled to adapt at Parkhead and came under fire for a number of high-profile mistakes.

Barkas’ time at the Hoops now looks to be over after he completed a loan move to Dutch side Utrecht for the upcoming season.

Speaking to Greek outlet, Betarades, he said: “It all happened very quickly but then the coronavirus came and the situation was difficult on a day-to-day basis.

“I regretted the decision because things didn’t turn out the way I thought they would. But you can’t know beforehand.

“What saddens me is that some money was spent on me and I didn’t feel the investment. I didn’t feel I was an important part of the team.

“It may not even be the team’s fault. It was a Covid year, everything was different. The first six months I didn’t know my teammates, we were in different locker rooms.

“Celtic is a huge club, but I wouldn’t recommend a goalkeeper to come here.”