Injured Celtic star lifts lid on transatlantic talks with club, when he will be back and 'pins and needles'

Right-back Johnston, 27, has not played for Celtic since a Europa League match on September 23 last year against Sturm Graz. He suffered a reoccurrence of a hamstring issue that he sustained earlier in the season and required surgery to fix the problem.

Johnston returned to light Celtic training earlier this month and jetted over to Canada this week to join up with his international team - although he will play no part in matches against Iceland and Tunisia.

The former CF Montreal defender is a key part of Celtic’s dressingroom and his presence on and off the pitch has been missed in a season of struggles, with the Premiership champions five points off leaders Hearts with seven games to go. However, Johnston is eyeing a return by the end of April and could join other injured players such as Arne Engels for the title run-in.

Speaking to the press in Canada, Johnston said: “In an ideal world, I would like to be back in time for the split. And I think that’s a realistic target, but at the same time, none of us are writing anything in stone. But if I need an extra week, then I will take an extra week.

“I don’t have an exact date. I have tried to do that in the past and you almost set false expectations for yourself and the coaching staff. We will all take it week by week. My fitness is coming along.

“It was difficult for me when I re-injured it from a medical and a mental standpoint. I am happy with how it is coming along. I feel strong and now it’s just about building up. The plan is to get a couple of good weeks’ training and hopefully get a friendly game, which would be set up when I get back. So I will be looking to kick on with the tail end of the season in Scotland and ideally lift a couple of trophies and be ready to go for the World Cup.

Johnston’s tough few months at Celtic

Johnston has endured a difficult season due to his hamstring injury. He initially suffered a partial tear to the muscle in late August during a Champions League qualifier against Kairat Almaty and then broke down two months later in his first match back against Graz.

“When you do two months of individual sessions on your own, you are just desperate to kick a ball,” explained Johnston. “I have only trained a couple of times with the Celtic first team last week, so it has been great to be in a training session and be around the guys.

“I just have to be smart about the hamstring because it’s such a finicky muscle and no matter how good you feel you still have to give it time and really listen to it because it’s one of those ones that gets to 90 per cent pretty quickly and that can trigger you into a false sense of security, which it did the first time round for me and I have learned my lesson.

“I want to get back as quickly as I can, but the most important thing is when I come back, I want to stay back. Having been out for that long, you do get that itch to get back to help, but I have learned my lesson from the first time, where I probably pushed myself a little too quickly.

“I’ve done it before, I am a pretty mature player and we have already made a bit of a mess of this season in terms of this injury and I just don’t want it to recur.

“I’m still trying to get used to the hamstring after surgery because there are a lot of pins and needles sometimes. But all the testing has been good and it’s about listening to the doctors.”

Johnston’s decision to jet over the Atlantic Ocean raised some eyebrows given he is recovering from such a serious injury. But the player revealed Celtic were “great” in allowing him to link up with Canada given they are preparing to co-host the World Cup in the summer.

“It’s really nice to be back,” said Johnston of seeing head coach Jesse Marsch and his compatriots again. “I missed September, October and November camps and the thought of missing March too was one I just didn’t really want to entertain.

“Celtic were great with me. They knew where I was at, they knew I play a pretty big leadership role in this group and they knew how important it was for me to be here leading into a home World Cup.

“Celtic gave the first team the week off, so they said there would be nothing better than for me to come out here and get the full training with the national team rather than training on my own in Scotland.”

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