Celtic Handed Long-Term Injury Boost

Johnny Kenny has been handed a timely injury boost after fears the Celtic striker could require surgery on the knee problem which ended his season early at Bolton Wanderers.

The 22-year-old suffered ligament damage during Bolton’s defeat against Luton Town earlier this month, immediately raising concern over how much of next season’s preparation he could potentially miss.

At first, there were worries Kenny may need an operation.

That would likely have ruled him out for most of pre-season and left him trying to regain fitness while other players were already building rhythm ahead of the new campaign. Instead, Bolton boss Steven Schumacher has now revealed specialists delivered far more encouraging news.

That matters for Kenny regardless of what happens next in his career.

His long-term Celtic future still feels uncertain. Daizen Maeda and Kelechi Iheanacho have both found form at the right moment, while Celtic are also expected to reshape parts of the attack during the summer window.

But after the progress Kenny made at Bolton, the biggest thing for him personally was avoiding a recovery that dragged deep into next season.

His loan spell had finally started giving him regular senior football and consistent minutes. Kenny scored six goals and added three assists in League One while becoming an important player in Bolton’s push towards the play-offs.

Steven Schumacher explained the latest update while discussing Kenny’s recovery.

He said: (The Bolton News), “It was positive was positive news.

“Johnny came to see us on Saturday before the game, sat in the office for 20 minutes and had a conversation with us, and we were talking about potentially needing surgery on his knee.

“But he went to see the specialist who was quite positive about it, said he won’t require surgery, which is better, it means the recovery time will be shorter, and he was really pleased with that because obviously having an operation at this stage of the season would mean he would miss a bulk of his pre-season next year, so that was positive news and I’m pleased for him.”

That update changes the picture quite a bit for Kenny heading into the summer.

Instead of spending months catching up physically, he now has a realistic chance of returning much sooner and being properly involved during pre-season preparations wherever he ends up next year.

Whether that is at Celtic or elsewhere remains unclear.

Still, after finally building momentum during the second half of the season, avoiding surgery could turn out to be a massive break for the striker at exactly the right moment in his development.