Johnny Kenny is ready to shun a move back to Bolton and fight for his Celtic future. The Irish striker, 23, was farmed out on loan to the Trotters in January and scored six goals. But after firing the Wanderers into the play-offs, Kenny cruelly missed out on the Championship promotion-clinching win over Stockport at Wembley with a season-ending knee injury.
Kenny back in the mix
Kenny spent the bulk of pre-season recovering but after returning to full training, Shaun Maloney revealed the fringe man is set to stick around and battle it out with Kasper Hogh, Camilo Duran and Callum Osmand for a place up front.
Hoops assistant Maloney revealed Kenny held talks with boss Martin O'Neill earlier in the summer. He said: "At the moment, yeah. I think he spoke to Martin and he's staying. He's part of the squad. I think there was something online about the squad number, that was incorrect. So, yeah, Johnny's part of the squad. I'd say he's just about fit now. He hasn't been fit during pre-season. He's one of ours and he's fighting to get minutes on the pitch."
Bernardo leaves on loan
One player who won't play any part for Celtic is Paulo Bernardo after the Portuguese outcast joined Gornik Zabrze on a season-long loan. The Polish side have the option to buy the midfielder next summer and Maloney admits Bernardo needed to kickstart his career elsewhere.
He said: "Paulo and Martin spoke. There was a loan offer for him in January and we really wanted him to stay. He's a brilliant professional and a great player, but he needed to play games."
