Celtic Signs Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone on Loan
Celtic have moved to strengthen their last line of defence, securing goalkeeper Sam Johnstone on a season-long loan from Wolves, subject to international clearance.
The 33-year-old arrives with a serious résumé. An England international with four caps and four clean sheets, Johnstone has spent the bulk of his career in the unforgiving environment of English football, having first emerged at Manchester United back in 2011. He joins a goalkeeping group that already includes Viljami Sinisalo and Ross Doohan, adding proven experience to a department that will be under intense scrutiny this season.
Johnstone has spent the past two campaigns at Wolves, making 17 appearances last term. Now he swaps the Premier League for the pressure cooker of Glasgow, and he made it clear the pull of Celtic needed no hard sell.
"It's a great feeling, I'm buzzing to be here and I'm excited to get going," he told CelticPlayer after signing. "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."
The former Manchester United keeper spoke like a man who already understands the dynamics of the position he is walking into.
"I think everyone knows the goalie groups are a tight-knit group," he said. "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."
What struck him most on arrival was the scale of the place – and the demands that come with it.
"You hear about the size of the club, and you know about the size of the club, but just being here for a day, you notice how big the club is," he added. "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."
On the touchline, there is equal enthusiasm. Celtic manager Martin O'Neill underlined why the club moved for Johnstone and what they expect from him in the months ahead.
"We are really happy to welcome Sam to Celtic," O'Neill said. "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."
Competition, pressure, trophies. Johnstone knows exactly what he has signed up for. The only question now is how quickly he can turn that excitement into commanding performances in front of a full Celtic Park.
