Teenage striker Jack Aitchison is eager to get more time on the pitch for Celtic’s first-team, though remains realistic and patient as Brendan Rodgers’ side look to go the entire domestic season unbeaten.

The 17-year-old remains Celtic’s youngest ever player to score in a competitive match after coming on to score for the Hoops in their 7-0 win over Motherwell in the final game of last season.

Though despite his eight minutes on the pitch against Hearts in January being his only contribution to the first-team this season, he remains positive about his future and is aware he must be patient in hopes of getting more game-time.

Quoted by the Evening Times, the forward spoke of being a part of the current Celtic side and his hopes of racking up more minutes on the pitch.

It’s up to the gaffer if and when he decides to put the boys in.  They’ll want to stay unbeaten, but I think he would trust us to do a job. We just need to bide our time.

It’s nearly a year since I played and scored against Motherwell but I came on against Hearts in January. I can see that [Rodgers] is looking at me but I need to keep working hard.

I owe Ronny Deila as well for giving me the initial opportunity at such a young age. He was a good guy who talked me through a few things, too. Hopefully I can get more minutes under my belt with Celtic this season and see where it takes me.

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The Scotland Under-17 Striker also revealed that Rodgers is not the only person whom he takes advice from:

The manager’s been very good and given me a lot of advice, along with Chris Davies and Kolo Toure.  It’s good to be involved with big names who have done a lot in their football careers. I can make the most of their experience to improve my own game.

From a defensive point of view, Kolo tells me where to stand and move. He’s played in some of the biggest games in football with and against some of the biggest names like Thierry Henry. He told me I was one of the best he’d seen so that gives me the belief I can go quite far.

He’s great with the younger players. He comes to watch the training and games. The gaffer and Chris Davies are the same. Kolo’s had a good career and it says a lot about him that he’s willing to give up his time like that.

He’s still the ultimate professional, even at his age and stage of his career. He’s a very nice guy and I think his son’s in the youth system at Celtic so he understands it from that perspective as well. He’s bought into the fact that we’re all a big family really.  .

Celtic have a good track record of  developing youth talent and successfully building them into first-team players

James Forrest, Kieran Tierney, Liam Henderson and Callum McGregor are all members of the current Celtic first-team and came through the ranks of the club from a young age.

Aitchison, being the youngest ever player to represent the Hoops competitively as well as being the youngest scorer, seems like a player with talent who will likely be given more opportunities as time progresses.