Lagerbielke & Johnston Celtic transfer exit state of play

The Celtic pair have been linked with departures this summer in order to find regular game time having struggled for minutes in Glasgow.

Johnston spent the second half of last season on loan at West Brom in the English Championship with Lagerbielke having limited opportunity at Celtic.

Sheffield United have been credited with a transfer interest in Johnston this summer with Celtic interested in defender Auston Trusty from the English club.

Meanwhile, Lagerbielke is thought to be a loan target for SC Heerenveen as well as Italian club Lecce.

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On Johnston, Rodgers commented: "There’s speculation about Mikey. He’s been out and won’t be involved at the weekend but he’s back training with the group and we’ll just see what happens.

"Mikey had a difficult period of injuries for a couple of years but he’s well over that now. He really showed a real robustness last season when he trained right the way through and had some nice impacts in games for us. He needed to go out because he wanted to play more and did that at West Brom. He did that really well and that will clearly bring some attention to him.

"We’ll see how the next week goes and take it from there."

Quizzed on whether Lagerbielke is likely to leave the club this summer, the Celtic boss added: "I think to be fair to Gustaf, to go and play would be important for him. He and I have spoken on this here. It’s been a difficult move for him but I have to say he’s been absolutely brilliant - every day in training.

"I recognise how difficult it has been for him for at times not to be on the bench and to be training here as a small group on a Saturday morning or Sunday morning.

"He’s never once wavered from being the ultimate professional and for me, he deserves the chance to go and play.

"He’s not been in my plan to play but he’s been a great teammate and a real privilege to coach. He deserves an opportunity to go and play and we’ll see what that looks like."