Journalist and scout Peter Galindo has claimed that touted Celtic transfer target Alistair Johnston has a weakness when it comes to aerial duels.
If the latest rumours are to be believed – and insider Fabrizio Romano doesn’t usually get things wrong – it looks as though the Canada star could be on his way to Scotland soon.
Indeed, BBC commentator Steve Wilson even said live on air during a World Cup match that a fee had been agreed (via Football Scotland). Johnston played this weekend, but couldn’t help Canada pick up a win as they were beaten 4-1 by Croatia.
And while talking about the possible future Celtic signing on the Celts Are Here podcast, Galindo dropped his verdict on what the player might need to improve on if he wants to shine at his potential new club.
He said: “The one real weakness he has, still – and he’s gotten a little bit better as he’s gotten more games – it’s reading those aerial duels. Sometimes, especially when he’s trying to defend the back post or what have you, he tends to get a little lost; maybe not realise where his man is; maybe caught ball-watching sometimes.
“Those are some areas where he could probably still improve at. And playing on this World Cup stage is probably going to help him realise, listen, you can’t get the little details wrong. And certainly, playing for a club like Celtic, he’s gonna realise, ‘look, any little mistake, it’s going to be fixated on. I can’t let this happen’.
“So he’s probably going to work on that as much as he possibly can.”
Will Alistair Johnston be a hit if he joins Celtic this winter?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Alistair Johnston and Celtic…
On the whole, Galindo was positive about Johnston, so there should be plenty of reason to be excited about the 24-year-old, who is currently rated the joint-most-valuable defender in MLS at £5.16m (via Transfermarkt).
Sadly for the defender, however, he did struggle to impress in that Canada defeat. Indeed, in the Daily Mail’s player ratings from the Croatia game, it was noted that he struggled coming up against Ivan Perisic, who claimed two assists.
Ironically, he did finish the game having won two out of two aerial duels (via Sofascore), so perhaps Johnston has already been working to make sure that area of his game is improving.
No doubt, many Celtic fans will carefully be watching him in his final World Cup outing this winter before he makes his reported move to Scotland.