{"id":4321,"date":"2025-03-01T21:03:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T21:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2025\/03\/01\/celtic-defender-drawing-interest-from-premier-league-blow-for-the-bhoys\/"},"modified":"2025-03-01T21:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T21:03:51","slug":"celtic-defender-drawing-interest-from-premier-league-blow-for-the-bhoys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/2025\/03\/01\/celtic-defender-drawing-interest-from-premier-league-blow-for-the-bhoys\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Defender Drawing Interest From Premier League: Blow For The Bhoys?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>In a recent Q&#038;A, The Athletic\u2019s transfer guru <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6163572\/2025\/02\/27\/ask-ornstein-qa-our-football-insider-answers-your-questions-18\/\" target=\"_self\" aria-label>David Ornstein<\/a> (as quoted by The Daily Record) has shared an update on Celtic right fullback Alistair Johnston. The news would leave the Bhoys sweating as the Canadian has emerged as a transfer target for Fulham and Ipswich Town south of the border.<\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old Les Rouges international spent the youth years with Lakeshore SC, Aurora Youth SC, Richmond Hill SC, ANB Futbol and Vaughan SC before attending St John\u2019s University. After two years with St. John\u2019s Red Storm, Johnston joined Wake Forest\u2019s college side, the Demon Deacons. There he switched from central midfield to right-back and soon flourished in his homeland with Vaughan Azzurri. He was eventually drafted by Nashville FC in the MLS, and then joined CF Montreal for $1m in December 2021.<\/p>\n<p>After impressing in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, <a href=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/category\/leagues\/scottish-league\/celtic\/\">Celtic<\/a> snapped him up to replace Josip Juranovi\u0107 who completed a transfer to Union Berlin soon after the Canadian\u2019s Parkhead arrival. Although Anthony Ralston was there to slot in down the right, Johnston hit the ground running instantly having made 100 appearances already across competitions. With 6 goals and 18 assists, he has shown the attacking side of his game along with defensive composure.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_320219\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-320219\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-lazyloaded=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1.jpg\" alt=\"Celtic defender Alistair Johnston in action against Hibs\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1-1024x674.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1-768x505.jpg 768w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1-1536x1010.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1-750x493.jpg 750w, https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gettyimages-2167285610-2048x2048-1-1140x750.jpg 1140w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-320219\">GLASGOW, SCOTLAND \u2013 AUGUST 18: Alistair Johnston of Celtic vies with Rocky Bushri of Hibernia during the Premier Sports Cup match between Celtic and Hibernian at Celtic Park on August 18, 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Celts suffered a late heartbreak against Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena, but their performance in the Champions League got accolades despite the elimination from the knock-out round. They are heading towards a domestic treble, and Johnston, having featured 38 times already so far this season, is grabbing the attention from the Premier League.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What\u2019s Next For The Celtic Right-back<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This could be the right time for Johnston to make the next career move, but he must assess all his options before deciding his future. Celtic would offer him assured European football, but the profile of Fulham is indeed fascinating given their rise and revamp under Marco Silva. While they have Kenny Tete and Timothy Castagne challenging each other down the right, the latter has primarily been the second-choice and has hardly made an impression amid the Dutchman\u2019s injury absence.<\/p>\n<p>Johnston is capable of replacing both of them in West London, but he must not opt for a switch to Ipswich as they are likely to go down in the Championship unless a magical turnaround in the remaining fixtures. It will be a step back in his career, and the Hoops should be able to convince him to stay at Parkhead beyond this season. Nevertheless, they have him under contract till the summer of 2029, and therefore, should make a significant financial profit on top of the \u20ac3.5m they paid to Montreal two years back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img data-lazyloaded=\"1\" alt=\"Pratyay Maitra\" src=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/99caba795be581dd389be17783993c42.jpg?ver=1740550787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/42284f8e6bd8d7f416c18e12e1851881.jpg?ver=1740550787 2x\" height=\"80\" width=\"80\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3> <a href=\"https:\/\/the4thofficial.net\/author\/4thpratyay\/\"> Pratyay Maitra\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/h3>\n<p> A sports enthusiast who reads, breathes, as well as dreams (mostly) about football and attempts to share his views with the fanatics by jotting down a few words.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent Q&#038;A, The Athletic\u2019s transfer guru David Ornstein (as quoted by The Daily Record) has shared an update on Celtic right fullback Alistair Johnston. The news would leave the Bhoys sweating as the Canadian has emerged as a transfer target for Fulham and Ipswich Town south of the border. The 26-year-old Les Rouges [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12953,"featured_media":4322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12953"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo76e71539\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}