Johnny Kenny – “We obviously want him to be a Celtic player,” Brendan Rodgers | OneFootball

Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he is unsure whether or not to send Johnny Kenny out on loan this coming season…

4th July 2025; The City Stadium, Glasgow, Pre Season Friendly, Queens Park versus Celtic; Johnny Kenny of Celtic warms up. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Irishman Kenny, has been on the periphery at Celtic Park for some time having previously plied his trade in the League of Ireland, where the Hoops first stumbled onto his talent. However, it now appears that his countryman is unsure what is best for the player’s development arc.

Despite returning to Celtic following a successful temporary switch to Shamrock Rovers of late – which included goals in the UEFA Conference League – the striker has seen game time limited Scotland so far.

Brendan Rodgers did though introduce the forward into the fold towards the end of last season, which saw him net up at Pittodrie on a night when he could have had more than a couple, prompting suggestions he could force his way into Rodgers’ plans for this coming campaign.

That remains to be seen though, as it’s apparent that even his boss is unsure what would suit his game best at this current juncture.

When speaking of the young attacker over the past few days, he said: “I’ve spoken to a few clubs that want to take him on loan. I just want to have a look in pre-season just to see where we’re at and see what’s going to be the best for his development.We obviously want him to be a Celtic player,” he said, as reported by Scottish Sun.

“He’s a goalscorer. There’s absolutely no doubt about that.”

“He’s a goalscorer. There’s absolutely no doubt about that. It’s what’s going to be the best for him and Celtic and whether that’s going to be here or whether it’s just go away and get some more games and play. But I’ll assess that over pre-season. He’s big on the pitch, he’s bigger in his uniform. He presses, he runs, he’s aggressive. And like I say, 25 yards in, he’s a very good finisher. So, we think there’s a lot of talent there, we want to try and develop that and we’ll see how he does over the course of pre-season.”

Rodgers comments are interesting as they confirm that the club are looking to keep Johnny around regardless of whether he goes on a short-term spell elsewhere again. It seems as though Rodgers might want to see how he gets on over pre-season and whether or not he can force the manager into perhaps rethinking his transfer plans. Of course, it’s never a bad thing having a top goalscorer around anyway.

Johnny Kenny celebrates. Aberdeen 1-5 Celtic. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Last week there was a report that after a Bolton offer of £500k had been rejected by Celtic, the club were apparently looking for a fee of £1m for the Irish striker. This appears to be wide of the mark factoring in the manager’s latest comments.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out with perhaps any new arrival to the Celtic strike force having to be factored into the manager’s final decision on whether Johnny Kenny stays at Celtic this season or goes out on loan.

Paul Gillespie

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