Johnny Kenny believes he is capable of scoring 20 goals a season for Celtic as the striker looks ahead to fighting for his place after an impressive loan spell at Bolton Wanderers.
The 22-year-old was sent out to League One in January and quickly made a major impact, scoring six goals as Bolton surged into the play-offs.
The now Championship side were keen on the Irish talent in the summer, trying to take him down south permanently 12 months ago, but couldn’t meet Celtic’s valuation.
Kenny’s form played a huge role in their promotion push before cruelly being halted by a knee injury which ruled him out of Sunday’s Wembley final victory over Stockport.
Missing out on the occasion was a brutal end to what had otherwise been a hugely productive few months for the striker.
But the Irish forward now appears fully focused on returning to Celtic and proving he can compete at the highest level.
Speaking to RecordSport, Kenny insisted he believes the opportunities created at Celtic should allow any striker to post major numbers.
He said:
“Yeah, definitely.
“I think at Celtic, you get so many opportunities that I’d expect myself to get in and around that margin.
“You see Benjamin Nygren from midfield this year, he’s scored more than 20 in all competitions and I think there’s definitely an opportunity to do that.
“I think at every big club, there are two or three massive players in each position.
“Everywhere you go, there’s going to be something big, especially at Celtic, where we’re hopefully fighting in the Champions League and on all the fronts in Scotland too.
“So I relish the challenge.”
Kenny’s comments come at an interesting time for Celtic’s forward line.
Daizen Maeda’s future remains uncertain, Kelechi Iheanacho’s contract situation has still not been resolved and several attacking players could depart during what is expected to be another major summer rebuild.
That may open the door for Kenny to finally earn a serious opportunity at Celtic Park under a new manager.
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2 responses
good to hear he done well and will be ready for new season my only hope is he gets his chance he has pace we had a lot of injuries but he was still allowed to go out on loan we didnt have the best team last season but give it to the squad of players what they went through with board chaging managers 6weeks of mayhem not there fault and the some supporters protesting again nothing to do with sqaud as i said not the best football squad of players but didnt they show some bottle they never got any praise from media but this squad won the double thanks lads you deserved more praise than you got last six games supporters got behind you I mean the whole Celtic supports forget about protesting against the board and Isreali that hamas banner chased a good college and player and friend to most of the squad yes wouldnt be nice seeing that but never seen a squad noy much going for them but came through it some balls lads yhats was a true fighting double
Johnny Kenny is not Celtic class and never will be, he lacks the finishing touch and dhould be sold along with Scales and Ralston