Celtic winger Mikey Johnston has been backed to return a better player after impressing on-loan at West Brom. 

Johnston, 24, was shipped out to the English Championship outfit during the winter transfer window, and has since scored six goals and provided one assist from his 10 appearances. 

Hoops manager Brendan Rodgers is set to sit down with the Republic of Ireland internationalist over the summer and see whether his future still lies at Celtic. 

But former Celtic striker John Hartson reckons he can still play a part in the club's long-term plans if he can maintain the consistency shown at West Brom when he returns back north.

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Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, Hartson said: "This is a really interesting one. When Brendan Rodgers said that he needs to move a few on a lot of the Celtic fans would have put Mikey Johnston in that because his performances for Celtic have not been at the level that Rodgers has been looking for.

"Now you go and send him to West Brom and people are saying we should have kept him, given him chances etc. But in all fairness Celtic were not in a position to give lads opportunities, they have to go win games.

"So Brendan maybe needs to go with his more tried and trusted and experience. I am glad for Mikey that he is doing so well. West Brom is a big club. They are going for promotion back into the Premier League and some of the goals he has scored have been fantastic.

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"But remember he is only on loan so Celtic will see more of Mikey Johnston it is just a case of the player himself when he comes back making a similar impact back at Celtic where the pressure is multiplied a lot more, and not being disrespectful to the Championship, he has to perform every single week at Celtic.

"There is no hiding place. So when he comes back eventually it is going to be down to him to put those type of performances he's shown at West Brom.

"Sometimes maybe a player needs to go out on loan to discover himself again and put in some good performances. He's responded exactly how Brendan Rodgers will have wanted him to. Keep going, be positive and go do well at your loan club. Your stock is then a bit higher and one or two other clubs may be interested but Celtic hold the player.

"He's a Celtic player. There is no doubt he will come back and there is no doubt he will have another opportunity at Celtic."