Celtic Sign England Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone on Loan

Celtic have moved to strengthen their last line of defence, landing England international goalkeeper Sam Johnstone on a season-long loan from Wolves, subject to international clearance.

The 33-year-old arrives with a heavyweight CV and a clear brief: add experience, competition and authority to a goalkeeping department that now features Johnstone alongside Viljami Sinisalo and Ross Doohan.

An experienced addition between the posts

Johnstone comes north after two seasons at Wolves, where he made 17 appearances last term. His career began at Manchester United back in 2011, and he has spent more than a decade battling in the unforgiving environment of English football.

He also brings something Celtic can never buy domestically – England caps. Four of them, in fact, and four clean sheets to go with those appearances. That kind of pedigree instantly changes the feel of a dressing room.

Speaking to CelticPlayer after signing, Johnstone made it clear he 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."

Hart’s call underlines the baton being passed on. One proven England goalkeeper to another, both fully aware of the demands that come with the shirt.

Tight-knit union, heavy expectations

Johnstone knows exactly where he’s stepping. Celtic’s goalkeepers live under a different kind of scrutiny – long spells with little to do, then one moment that defines the day.

"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.

"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."

The message is clear: he hasn’t come to Glasgow for a quiet end to his career. He wants the noise, the expectation, the trophies.

O’Neill’s verdict

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill believes the club have secured a high-calibre reinforcement.

"We are really happy to welcome Sam to Celtic," he 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."

Competition, pressure, a packed stadium and a title race on the horizon – Johnstone didn’t need convincing. Now he needs games.