Celtic right-back Alistair Johnston ruled out for up to eight weeks with injury

Celtic right-back Alistair Johnston will miss the start of the season after being ruled out for up to eight weeks with an injury.

The Canada defender played a big-part in last season’s treble win after joining the club in January as a replacement for fellow World Cup star Josip Juranovic.

But he missed a string of games at the end of the season after picking up an injury in the 1-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Rangers.

He did return to the team in time to take part in the Hampden cup final that sealed the domestic clean-sweep last month.

Manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed the new setback at his press conference from their pre-season training camp in Portugal on Thursday.

He said: “Alistair had an issue when he came back from international duty- he has a slight problem with his ankle but he’s had that operation on his ankle, it’s been successful and he’s out here with us.

“Its probably a six to eight week injury but hopefully he’ll be back sooner than that. He’s progressed really well and it’s better to have it done at this stage of the season that some time into the season.