Celtic winger faces significant decision as West Brom & Burnley agree £3m deals | OneFootball

With two transfer offers accepted for his services, Mikey Johnston now has to decide which contract to pick

Celtic winger Mikey Johnston is set to return to the Championship before Friday's transfer deadline - with West Brom and Burnley having £3 million offers accepted for the Republic of Ireland international.

That is according to a report from the Express & Star's Lewis Cox, who claims that Johnston will now pick between the Baggies and the Clarets after they were given permission to talk personal terms with the 25-year-old.

Johnston had a spell-binding impact on loan at Albion in the second half of the 2023-24 season, scoring seven Championship goals to help propel Carlos Corberan's side into a play-off spot.

West Brom have now returned with a permanent bid to bring Johnston back to the Midlands, despite funds seemingly being tight this summer at the club, but they are set to be rivalled by Burnley, who are very active in the transfer market after selling the likes of Sander Berge, Wilson Odobert and Dara O'Shea.

Johnston will have always been on West Brom's list of wanted players ahead of the summer transfer window opening, but finances have been tight under new owner Shilen Patel, who is still feeling the pinch from the decisions of previous owner Guochuan Lai.

As per Rob Dorsett of Sky Sports earlier in August, Albion are on course to breach PSR rules, so must agree with the on future transfer deals and wage costs.

Albion have cashed in on Brandon Thomas-Asante, Conor Townsend and Okay Yokuslu this summer, but with a seven-figure bid now accepted for Johnston, fears will no doubt be expressed over the future of current West Brom winger Tom Fellows.

Ipswich Town and Southampton have had offers turned down this week for the 21-year-old in excess of £10 million, but the Express & Star report makes it clear that a potential sale of Fellows does not link into their move for Johnston, with the West Brom hierarchy pursuing the Celtic man irrespective of what happens to their prized asset.

Burnley, meanwhile, have already been linked with two wingers, with Bournemouth's Jaidon Anthony and Brighton attacker Jeremy Sarmiento said to be close to joining Scott Parker's squad at Turf Moor, as per Sacha Tavolieri.

Neither deal is completed yet though, and it looks as though as previously reported, Johnston is still well and truly on Burnley's radar, with a bid accepted by Celtic for his services.

It's now up to Johnston to decide where his future lies, and there's every chance it could be left until deadline day to see where he ends up.

Mikey Johnston may favour West Brom return for more guaranteed football

It's certainly a tough decision for Johnston to make in terms of his next move, but in terms of pure game-time, he may be best heading back to The Hawthorns.

Burnley you'd imagine would be able to offer the bigger wages, but there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding Parker's squad and the amount of departures that have taken place already and may still do, and Johnston is just one of a number of wingers that have been touted as potentially arriving in east Lancashire.

That could point to game-time being shared or limited for the Irishman, whereas at West Brom, he would likely be their star man on the left, and would take over from Karlan Grant, who has surprised many fans with impressive early season performances.

Johnston performed well last season though under Corberan, and the chance to link up with the Spaniard once more should swing the move in Albion's direction - as we know though, transfers don't always work out like that...