Celtic’s win over Sturm Graz didn’t get off to the best of starts.
The game had barely gotten underway when Brendan Rodgers was forced to replace Kelechi Iheanacho, who had gone down with a mysterious hamstring injury without having touched the ball.
20 minutes later, Alistair Johnston, who was making his return from injury, also went down. It looked like a recurrence of his own hamstring problem, which had kept him out since August.
It isn’t ideal for Rodgers given the importance of upcoming fixtures – but one player’s misfortune is always another’s opportunity.
And for Johan Mjallby, Johnny Kenny showed something in his substitute appearance, which saw him essentially play the full match,
Johan Mjallby on Johnny Kenny for Celtic vs Sturm Graz
Kenny has very much broken into the Celtic first team through the back door.
Signed from Sligo Rovers in 2022, he has spent time out on loan at Queens Park and Shamrock Rovers before being bedded in by Rodgers.
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Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images
After returning to Celtic Park in January, Kenny was given a run of substitute appearances, before scoring on his first start against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Despite the arrivals of Iheanacho and Shin Yamada, he has remained in first team contention and signed a new contract in the summer.
And Mjallby, speaking on TNT Sports’ panel after the match, said that Kenny has ‘everything’ to become a good striker.
Speaking after the match, he said: “I like this kid. I do. I think he’s got everything in the bag to really become a good striker.
“I know he’s inexperienced, he’s still making wrong decisions when it comes to his link-up play. But he’s got it, with his movement in the box.
“I think he’s one of them, that if he scores one, he can come on leaps and bounds.”
Kenny was given his first Ireland call-up in September, but didn’t feature in the games against the Netherlands and Armenia.
Should Iheanacho remain out injured, he could be set for a golden opportunity.
Celtic’s striker situation
The striker situation at Celtic has been attrected attention since the departure of Kyogo Furuhashi in January.
No direct replacement was signed for the Japanese hero, and to complicate matters further, Adam Idah was sold to Swansea in the summer, seemingly against the wishes of the manager.
Targets such as Kasper Dolberg, Louis Munteanu and David Strelec weren’t signed in the summer transfer window, forcing the free signing of Iheanacho.
But if the Celtic board want any chance of keeping Rodgers beyond this season, they will need to dip back into the market – and more successfully.