West Brom look to be in a strong position in the Championship table at the moment.
The Baggies made it five games unbeaten on Sunday afternoon. That came after they recovered from a goal down to beat Huddersfield Town 4-1 at The John Smith’s Stadium.
As a result, Carlos Corberan‘s side look to have cemented themselves in a Championship play-off place for the time being.
West Brom are currently 5th in the standings, five points clear of Hull City in 7th. Now it seems that on the back of that run, demand is growing for the permanent signing of Mikey Johnston by the Baggies.
Mikey Johnston in demand
On Sunday, Johnston scored twice and provided one assist in that win over the Terriers in Yorkshire.
That means he now has six goals and one assist to his name in nine games since joining West Brom on loan from Celtic in the January transfer window.
With the 24-year-old making such an impact, Chris Lepkowski now believes the club must be looking to hold talks with Celtic about his future when the transfer window reopens in the summer.
Speaking about Johnston after his performance against Huddersfield Town, the West Brom expert told The Liquidator Podcast:
“Again credit to Johnston who continues to show what a good player he is. Our best loan player for a long time and I would like to think we’ll have a very serious conversation with Celtic when this season finishes because he has been outstanding. And I dare say people will be asking questions of Brendan Rodgers and how he’s allowed a player like this to come down to us.”
As things stand, there are still just over two years remaining on Johnston’s contract with Celtic. That secures his future with the current Scottish champions until the end of the 2025/26 season.
West Brom may have a battle to sign Mikey Johnston
It could well be difficult for West Brom to complete the signing of Johnston in the summer transfer window.
The winger has been in excellent form ever since he moved to The Hawthorns. He has already won plenty of praise, even being tipped as a key man for the play-offs.
That sort of impact is unlikely to have gone unnoticed elsewhere. Indeed, it may have already attracted the attention of clubs further up the pyramid.
As a result, there could be plenty of competition for West Brom if they do look to sign Johnston again in the summer.
Meanwhile, Celtic may decide they want to give the winger another chance in Glasgow. Should that be the case, his contract situation puts them in a strong position over his future.
Clearly then, there are many obstacles for the Baggies to overcome if they are to bring the 24-year-old back to the club in the summer.
So if they do manage to do that, there can be no denying it would go down as a major coup for West Brom.