Sam Johnstone Joins Celtic on Loan from Wolves
Celtic have moved to strengthen their goalkeeping department with the capture of Sam Johnstone on a season-long loan from Wolves, subject to international clearance.
The 33-year-old England international arrives with a substantial body of work behind him in the English game. A product of Manchester United’s academy, where he began his senior career in 2011, Johnstone has spent the last two seasons at Molineux and made 17 appearances for Wolves last term.
He now links up with Viljami Sinisalo and Ross Doohan in Glasgow, adding proven experience to a group that will be central to Celtic’s ambitions this season.
Johnstone has four England caps and four clean sheets to show for them – a perfect international record that underlines his pedigree at the highest level.
Speaking to CelticPlayer after signing, Johnstone made it clear the move needed no sales pitch.
"It's a great feeling, I'm buzzing to be here and I'm excited to get going," he said. "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 Wolves keeper expects an intense, competitive dynamic among the goalkeepers – and welcomes it.
"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."
One day at Lennoxtown and around Celtic Park was enough to confirm what he already suspected.
"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," he said. "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."
Manager Martin O'Neill believes Celtic have secured a goalkeeper of real stature.
"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 Joe Hart’s endorsement ringing in his ears and O’Neill demanding trophies, Johnstone steps into a club where the margin for error is slim and the expectations are vast – exactly the kind of pressure he says he craves.
