I’ve nightmares thinking about that- Johnston reacts to Celtic transfer speculation

Alistair Johnston has spoken out about his ambitions to play in Europe.

Ahead of his World Cup debut for Canada against Belgium on Wednesday night there was strong speculation that the 24-year-old will replace Josip Juranovic if the Croat is on the move in January.

Johnston looked perfectly at home against Belgium as Celtic fans tried to assess how he would fit in with Ange Postecoglou’s brand of football.

Playing in Qatar will act as a shop window for many players with Johnston clearly ready for the switch from playing in the MLS for Montreal CF to European football.

He told The Sun:

There is only so much I can say right now but if an opportunity arises, sure. I am really happy at Montreal and we have a great thing going, but at the same time I want to test myself, and I want to see how high I can go.

That’s something that for all athletes deep down is in our DNA. You want to be competitive and push yourself to play against the best and see how high you can go.

We never want to look back at our career and have the, ‘What if?’ question. I’ve nightmares thinking about that.

I want to push the boundaries of what is physically capable for me. If that means going overseas, and trying to see what kind of level I can play at, then so be it. We will see how the World Cup goes and we will see what happens after that.

It is difficult to judge the standard of players coming from the MLS but the World Cup gives Celtic and any other interested club the perfect opportunity to see what level Johnston is at.

With Tony Ralston at Celtic Postecoglou has a ready made replacement for Juranovic if, as expected, he is the subject of a substantial offer in January.

During the summer Alexandro Bernabei was signed for the other full-back role but that resulted in Greg Taylor raising his game to become one of Celtic’s best players in the first part of the season.

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