Brendan Rodgers heaps praise on Ryan Christie’s progress

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was quick to praise midfielder Ryan Christie’s progress, after the youngster put in another solid display in the victory over Hamilton, the Telegraph report.

The 23-year-old broke into the first-team under Rodgers at the beginning of the campaign, after impressing in two separate loan spells with Aberdeen.

Since then, the former Inverness man, who made the move to Celtic in 2015, has excelled and opened the scoring at New Douglas Park on Saturday, as the Hoops extended their unbeaten run in the Scottish Premiership to seven games.

Talking after the win, Rodgers was quick to praise the midfielder, comparing Christie’s physique and stamina to team-mate Oliver Ntcham.

That’s the model. You bring a boy like that in and you know there’s lots of development in him. They come in at 19 or 20 and you know there’s value in the player.

When I looked at him, I saw the physical qualities he has and if you can develop those and make him robust as a player mentally, then you know at some stage he’ll move on.

But he’s loved his time here, he’s improved a lot and he’s getting valuable games and experiences. It’s great for him and great for the club.

You have to future-proof all these players to make sure they’re here but also you have the value of a top young player.

Both Ntcham and Christie signed new deals with Celtic this month and with the Scottish international finding the back of the net in four out of the last six games for the Hoops, the attacking midfielder may well prove to be a pivotal player for the club as the season enters the busy festive period.