Canadian D Johnston agrees to new contract with Celtic

Canadian defender Alistair Johnston has agreed to a new contract with Celtic that will keep him at the Scottish powerhouse until the summer of 2029.

The 26-year-old from Aurora, Ont., originally signed with the Glasgow club in December 2022 on a five-year deal from CF Montreal.

Johnston has made 79 appearances since, scoring six goals from his right fullback position, and captained the side against Motherwell this season.

“In a relatively short period of time he has established himself as a fantastic player for Celtic, showing real quality and just delivering performance after performance for us, week in, week out," Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers said in a statement. “He has a phenomenal work ethic and attitude, brilliant hunger and positivity, such an honest love for the game and a real desire to improve in everything he does.

“These are the qualities which make a great player and he has certainly been that for Celtic."

Johnston celebrated his 50th cap for Canada in a 1-0 win in Suriname on Nov. 11. He has been ever-present on the Canadian team sheet since making his debut as a 22-year-old in March 2021 in a 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Bermuda.

Including that game, Johnston has played in 51 of Canada's last 59 outings.

He has started 11 of Jesse Marsch's 13 games, missing out, missing out on a September friendly against Mexico after an injury forced him out of Canada's 2-1 win Sept. 7 over the United States in Kansas City in the 23rd minute. He also sat out Canada's Oct. 15 Panama friendly due to a minor injury.

Celtic (10-0-1) tops the Scottish Premiership on goal difference above Aberdeen, a team Celtic thumped 6-0 on Nov. 2 in the Scottish League Cup semifinal. And it has turned heads in Champions League play where it is 2-1-1 with wins over RB Leipzig (3-1) and Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava (5-1) and a draw with Italy's Atalanta (0-0).

Its lone loss this season was a 7-1 Champions League shellacking Oct. 1 at Borussia Dortmund, which was runner-up in the European cup competition last season.

Celtic has gone 7-0-2 in all competitions since, outscoring the opposition 23-6.

With Celtic, he is a two-time Scottish Premiership winner (2022-23, 2023-24), two-time Scottish Cup winner (2023, 2024), and Scottish League Cup winner (2023).

“It’s an absolute honour to pull that famous jersey on every week and to have achieved so much success with my teammates already has been so satisfying," Johnston said. "But of course, we want more and that is our focus.

“It is a real delight to be working day in, day out in such a great setup, working with the gaffer and the staff who have such ambition for success and with such a great group of lads in the team."

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024.