Wanderers have again swooped to beat the transfer deadline and land long-time target Johnny Kenny.
The exciting young forward has joined the Whites on loan for the remainder of the season from Scottish champions Celtic and takes the number-nine shirt in the Wanderers’ squad.
Wanderers pursued the 22-year-old last summer and have now won the race to bring Kenny from Celtic Park to boost their attacking options for the run-in to the League One promotion race.
The Republic of Ireland international arrived at the Toughsheet Community as Wanderers’ seventh signing of the January transfer window and as a further high-quality addition to head coach Steven Schumacher’s squad.
Schumacher said: “We’re delighted to have signed Johnny to continue a really strong month. He is a player who we rate very highly and is someone we identified last summer as someone who would really strengthen our attacking options.
“He has since played regularly and scored goals at a high level so will be a big addition for us. We didn’t think he would be available during this window but once we were made aware Celtic would allow him to leave on loan, we acted really quickly to get the deal done.
“Our front players have hit some decent form in recent games and Johnny will add another dimension, extra competition and an added threat in that department as we look to keep scoring goals and winning games to maintain our challenge.”
Kenny has scored half-a-dozen times for Celtic this season and last featured for Martin O’Neill’s side in a Europa League tie towards the end of last month.
That return follows a first senior goal for the Glasgow giants in April as he helped the side then managed by Brendan Rodgers win a fourth successive Scottish Premier League title.
Kenny had previously spent a prolific loan spell back in the League of Ireland with Shamrock Rovers, scoring 20 times as the league’s second highest scorer as Shamrock finished second in the table in 2024 and enjoyed an impressive run in the Europa Conference League.
That was the striker’s second loan spell at Rovers, having helped the club win the Irish League title 12 months earlier after first bursting onto the scene with hometown club Sligo Rovers, where his goals caught the eye of Celtic and earned him a move to Glasgow in January, 2022.
Since then, he has also gained senior experience on loan at Queen’s Park and is now looking to make an impact in the EFL with Wanderers, who have won four and drawn one of their last five games to sit third in the League One table.
“I knew there’d been an interest and Bolton reached out to me a lot during the summer, but I wanted to give Celtic a crack I think I have in the last six months. But I'm happy to be here now,” said Kenny, who signed a new four-year contract at Celtic in August.
“I've gained a lot of experience playing at Celtic in front of an amazing crowd every week and I just want to bring those experiences here now and hopefully help the club going forward.
“I want to bring in that winning mentality to the squad because if we win as much as possible, we'll get to where we want to be and that's ultimately the aim. I hope to bring goals, work-rate and just help the team all round and I think if I can bring the level I can bring, we can get to where we want to.
“I look forward to the next few months. The club is in a brilliant position and we want to go and get promoted - that's the aim. Promotion would be amazing, to bring this club back one division closer to where it should be and I hope I can help the club do that.”
Watch the full interview with our latest new signing on Wanderers TV
For player sponsorship opportunities please contact Tia Davies in our commercial team via tdavies@bwfc.co.uk
This Is Where We Belong – 2026/27 season tickets are now on sale. Get yours at the best price before the Early Bird phase ends. Click here for more information