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18 months after he last appeared in a Celtic shirt, Ryan Christie is set to return from a loan spell at Aberdeen this summer. Now a senior Scottish international, his time away has worked wonders and he’s ready to solve one of Brendan Rodgers’ biggest concerns.
The former Liverpool boss is known to be on the lookout for more options in attack, particularly if there is renewed interest in Moussa Dembele, and the creativity of the 23-year-old would be highly valued.
“I haven’t spoken to Brendan Rodgers since the end of the season. He told me to enjoy this trip [with Scotland to face Peru and Mexico], come back for pre-season and we’d take things from there,” he explained to .
“But I’ll really need to hit the ground running, I know that. You always worry about losing your sharpness, but I always enjoy pre-season and I know how important this one is.
“I need to have a good pre-season, but I have every confidence I can come in and be a success at Celtic. I know I can fit into the manager’s plans there and really kick-start my Celtic career. I’m a different player than I was 18 months ago, for a start I’m involved at international level. At club level I helped Aberdeen finish second again and I feel I’m a better all-round player. I have a hunger and desire to win games.”
In 57 games at Aberdeen, Christie was involved in a goal more than once every two games, with 15 goals and 18 assists during his spell there. Perhaps most interestingly for Rodgers, he has also taken up a new role, playing more centrally.
When breaking through at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Christie predominantly played on the right and during his brief spell at Parkhead before heading out on loan he struggled to nail down a regular position. With Aberdeen, he’s found himself most at home as an attacking midfielder bombing on from deep and playing others in.
With it likely that Christie will add to his two caps with Scotland on the current trip to face Peru and Mexico, he will come back a much more rounded and experienced player. With a gap in Rodgers’ squad, a strong pre-season could be key to him becoming a Celtic regular in 2018/19.