CANADA BUY

Celtic defensive target admits he’s ‘flattered’ with Hoops interest but the World Cup is full focus for now

CANADA World Cup star Alistair Johnston last night admitted he’s honoured at the prospect of joining Celtic.

The 24-year-old is closing in on a move to Parkhead as boss

Ange Postecoglou (inset) continues work to bolster his squad.

Having already secured a deal for Japanese defender Yuki Kobayashi,

Johnston appears next in line.

Talks are understood to have been ongoing and sources in Canada last night claimed verbal agreements have been reached between the Scottish champions and the player’s club Montreal FC leaving just personal terms to be concluded.

Johnston is set to win his 32nd cap for his country in tomorrow’s encounter against Croatia.

But, although he insists focus remains on his Qatar job, the defender appeared thrilled when quizzed about the prospect of moving to Glasgow’s East End. Johnston said: “It’s an

honour. Just being linked with them, my phone’s been blowing up

“That nearly put my phone out of commission, halfway through a World Cup. To be linked with club like Celtic is obviously something that I think every footballer is excited by. “It’s one of the most passionate fanbases in the world. It’s a club that even people who don’t follow football know who it is.

“I’m super excited to get linked to them. But right now, the focus is just solely on the national team.

“We’ve done a really good job of kind of blocking out the noise.

“We’re pretty focused on the task at hand and personal things, club things, that will get kind of get figured out once January hits.

“We’ve still got a lot more business to take care of here.”

The right-sided defender cost his club £800,000 when securing his services from Nashville 11 months ago and has totalled 77 MLS appearances in his career.