Sam Johnstone Joins Celtic on Loan from Wolves

Celtic have moved to strengthen their goalkeeping department with the season-long loan signing of Sam Johnstone from Wolves, with the deal subject to international clearance.

The 33-year-old England international arrives in Glasgow with a substantial body of experience behind him. A product of Manchester United’s academy, Johnstone began his senior career at Old Trafford in 2011 and has spent more than a decade battling in the unforgiving environment of English football.

He now links up with Viljami Sinisalo and Ross Doohan, adding proven pedigree to a group that will be central to Celtic’s ambitions this season.

Johnstone has spent the last two campaigns at Wolves, making 17 appearances for the club last term. On the international stage, he has earned four caps for England – and has yet to concede a goal in those outings, with four clean sheets from four.

The move to Celtic clearly excites him. Speaking to CelticPlayer after signing, Johnstone said: “It’s a great feeling, I’m buzzing to be here and I’m excited to get going.

“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 also underlined how he sees his role inside a demanding training-ground environment.

“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.”

Only a day into his Celtic career, the scale of the club has already hit home.

“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.

“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.”

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill believes the club have secured a goalkeeper of real substance.

“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.”

With Johnstone now in the building and competition sharpened between the posts, the question is simple: who will seize the No.1 jersey when the real pressure starts?