Wigan Athletic loanee George Johnston is attracting interest from League One clubs Ipswich Town and Portsmouth this summer, per Football Insider.

The 22-year-old joined the Latics on loan for the rest of the season in January from Dutch giants Feyenoord, moving back much closer to his north west roots after failing to break into the senior setup in Holland.

Johnston swapped Merseyside for Rotterdam in 2019 when departing Liverpool, a club he'd been at since he was a child, and was hoping to experience more first-team football on the continent than he would at home.

But it hasn't come to fruition for the centre-back, making just four Eredivisie appearances before returning to England for the rest of the current campaign.

With his Feyenoord contract expiring at the end of the season (although the club have an optional 12-month extension), it looks as though his career will continue back in Britain, with two big League One sides in the hunt for him.

And Johnston's performances for Wigan have clearly not gone unnoticed if Football Insider are to be believed - there could be a real fight for the Manchester-born defender in the summer.

The Verdict

Wigan will no doubt want to try and bring Johnston in permanently, but they may be in League Two next season unless they can put a run of good results together.

That would put them in an impossible position to try and bring Johnston in permanently, and it would pave the way for an Ipswich or a Portsmouth to swoop.

Johnston probably expected his career to be a bit further developed by now after making the move to Holland, but sometimes it just doesn't work out and at 22 years old, he still has time to make his way up the leagues in England, and that journey could start this summer.