'Putting this behind me for good' - Injury-plagued Celtic star gives fitness update as he pursues World Cup dream
The defender took to Instagram to reflect on a ‘challenging’ stage in his Hoops career.
With the International break just around the corner, a Celtic player has voiced his World Cup ambitions as well as providing an update on his fitness.
The break is providing Martin O’Neill with some much-needed respite after ‘a whirlwind of a fortnight’ as Celtic boss. Despite claiming he’s ‘secretly enjoyed’ his second stint in the Parkhead dugout, with a new bookies favourite managerial front runner, the 4-0 hammering of Kilmarnock last weekend could be the 73-year old’s last game.
Columbus Crew’s, Wilfried Nancy is the latest name linked with the Celtic Park vacancy. Since taking the top job at the MLS side in 2023, the Frenchman already has two trophies to his name, however his lack of European experience may worry some of the Parkhead faithful.
If Nancy was chosen to be the new man, he would be reunited with Celtic right back, Alistair Johnston, who played under him during his CF Montreal days. The Canadian has been out with injury for the majority of this season and has took to Instagram to express his gratitude to the Celtic fans for supporting him, as well as providing a fitness update.
Johnston reflects on a ‘challenging’ few months
After suffering a hamstring injury against Kairat Almaty in August, Johnston made his return to first team action last month in Celtic’s Europa League victory over Sturm Graz. However, the 27-year old lasted less than half an hour before feeling his hamstring again and was subbed off for Colby Donovan.
A recent Johnston post on Instagram read: “these past few months have been as challenging as any for me personally since my career began. With that being said, I’m happy to say that I successfully underwent surgery today to repair my hamstring and hopefully this will be the first step in putting this injury behind me for good.”
The physicality as well as the attacking strengths of Johnston have been sorely missed at Celtic Park in recent weeks. At a time where the future is uncertain in the East End of Glasgow, he is one of the more experienced player that could’ve helped steady the ship.
‘Home World Cup’ the end goal
With the 2026 World Cup in USA, Mexico and Johnston’s native Canada looming, the full back is relishing the once in a lifetime opportunity to play in world sports’ biggest tournament in front of a home crowd. He continued: “thank you for the support during this time and I can’t wait to be back fully fit later this season for a title push and a home World Cup.”
Johnston featured for his country at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was their first appearance at the tournament since 1986. Despite having some impressive performances against the likes of Belgium and Croatia, the Canadians were eventually knocked out in the group stage.
As Johnston works his way back to fitness, a number of other Celtic stars are also currently undergoing lengthy sideline stints. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota are out until 2026, while in their last two games, both Callum Osmand and Marcelo Saracchi have went off holding their hamstrings.