Ryan Christie could have a future at Celtic insists Rodgers

According to The Scotsman, Brendan Rodgers has made it clear that midfielder Ryan Christie, who has spent the last year on loan at Aberdeen, will return to the club in the summer.

The Celtic manager confirmed that Christie will not be permitted to make a permanent move to Aberdeen this summer.

Rodgers also said that fellow loanee Scott Allan, currently at Hibernian under Neil Lennon, will be free to leave the club when the season ends, after being frozen out of Rodgers’ side.

Christie, who has been a stand out performer for the Dons this season and guided them to the Scottish Cup final last term, has clearly caught the eye of the Celtic boss.

Despite strong interest from Derek McInnes as a summer transfer target, Rodgers has stressed that the 23-year-old is still part of his future plans.

The plan was always for Ryan to come back. I looked at it last summer after he’d spent six months on loan to Aberdeen, working with Derek at a fantastic club, under pressure, and asked: ‘Is it better him to play 40-plus games for them or maybe play between five and ten for me?

We had a call-back [facility] in January if we’d wanted him but I always felt a year playing out, working on his game and his physical strength, on preparing week-in and week-out for games would benefit him and benefit Celtic. I believe that he’s made the most of his opportunity with them.

As a staff, we’ve watched him closely in a lot of the games and he’s been a really influential player for Aberdeen.

So the plan will be for him to come back and reintegrate into the squad here over the summer and he has a year left on his contract, so we’ll look at it from there.

Christie made his international debut for Scotland in a friendly against Holland in November and could be a long-term option for Alex McLeish with the national team.

There’s no doubt that Christie has benefitted well from the regular game time at Aberdeen, but he’ll undoubtedly face tougher competition should he return to Celtic Park, with the likes of Tom Rogic, Callum McGregor and Charly Musonda all competing for a regular starting place.