Celtic land ex-England internationalist after phonecall from Joe Hart - 'I didn't need convincing'

The 33-year-old former England internationalist has joined the Scottish champions on a season-long loan from Wolves to provide competition for the current number one Viljami Sinisalo.

Johnstone made 17 appearances for Wolves in the Premier League last season but was made available for transfer after dropping down the pecking order at Molineux following the club’s relegation to the Championship.

Johnstone, who won the last of his four England caps in 2023, revealed he was given a flavour of what to expect at Parkhead from Hart, who won seven major honours in three years with Celtic before retiring in 2024.

“It’s a great feeling, I’m buzzing to be here and I'm excited to get going,” Johnstone told Celtic club media.

“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.

“I think everyone knows the goalie groups are a tight-knit group. 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.

“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.”

Busy day ahead at Celtic

Johnstone’s arrival is the first deal of what is expected to be a busy day for Celtic ahead of the UEFA registration deadline.

Celtic manager, Martin O’Neill added: “We are really happy to welcome Sam to Celtic.

“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.”

Celtic made their fifth summer signing on Tuesday when they added Danish midfielder Oliver Sorensen from Parma on loan with an option to buy.

They are expected to add several more and freed up further space in their squad with the permanent departures of Jonny Kenny and Reo Hatate to the English Championship.

Japanese midfielder Hatate ended a four-and-a-half-year spell at Parkhead, in which he scored 33 goals in 191 appearances, by joining Burnley on a three-year contract.

Irish striker Kenny, who signed for Celtic in the same month as Hatate, sealed a move to Preston.

The Hoops are hoping to get most of their remaining recruitment completed in time for the Europa League squad-registering deadline of 11pm on Wednesday. The Scottish window closes at 5pm on Thursday.

Sorensen, Johnstone and 19-year-old PSV Eindhoven midfielder Joel van den Berg were all at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training ground on Tuesday, while teenage forward Shim Mheuka arrived in Glasgow later that evening with a view to joining Martin O’Neill’s squad.

Mheuka’s Chelsea team-mate, left-back Landon Emenalo, is also earmarked for a loan move to the Hoops, while Feyenoord right-back Jordan Lotomba has emerged as a potential recruit following an injury to Alistair Johnston.

It remains to be seen if a deal can be struck for Torino midfielder Gvidas Gineitis, with the 22-year-old Lithuania international having been a long-term target for the Scottish champions.