Celtic have completed loan deals for former England goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and teenage striker Shumaira Mheuka. Johnstone, 33, arrives from Wolverhampton Wanderers and will provide competition for Finland international Viljami Sinisalo at the Scottish champions. Mheuka, 18, has extended his contract at Chelsea until 2031, having made nine outings for the London club already.
Four of those came in the 2024-25 Conference League, including his only start. Last season, he captained the Chelsea Under-21 side, scoring 18 goals in 19 games. Johnstone, who won the last of his four caps in 2023, made 17 appearances last season but lost his Premier League starting place at relegated Wolves in December and has not played since an FA Cup loss to Liverpool in early March.
"I'm buzzing to be here and I'm excited to get going," said the goalkeeper, who began his career at Manchester United and has had spells at Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palce. Talking to club media, he added: "I didn't need convincing by anyone, but Joe Hart rang me the other day just to reiterate what a place this is, what a great group of lads and how the fans are unbelievable. "You hear about the size of the club, and you know about the size of the club, but just being here for a day, you notice how big the club is.
"And the pressure to win, which is what I like – pressure to win, pressure to perform and we all want to win trophies. "I think everyone knows the goalie groups are a tight-knit group. We work closely together every day and hopefully I can help Vil and he can help me, and we push each other and we support each other along with the other goalies and the goalie coaches." Kasper Schmeichel had been first choice at Celtic since the summer of 2024, but played his last game in February and subsequently retired due to a shoulder injury.
"He is a quality keeper with excellent experience at the highest level," said manager Martin O'Neill said of Johnstone. "I think he will be a very good addition to our goalkeeping team." O'Neill added that Mheuka has "great quality" while explaining: "I think this period of his career, spent with us, will be beneficial to him and obviously to us. "He is a player who can give us another great attacking dimension and I'm sure he will make an important contribution to Celtic." Visit our Celtic page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views Get Celtic news notifications in the BBC Sport app
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