Stuart Armstrong has revealed how a back injury turned last season into a nightmare.
The midfielder joined Celtic in a double deal with Gary Mackay-Steven in February 2015 and made an immediate impact highlighted by his displays against Inter Milan.
After a slow start to last season Armstrong was in and out of the Celtic side looking a shadow of the player who had settled so quickly the previous term.
“I learned a lot last season and will hopefully build on that now,” he told The Daily Record. “What have I learned? I’ll keep that to myself. The season was up and down. I had a very good start then had a bad injury with my back.
“It was a stress reaction to the bone on my back. The only treatment was rest and that was frustrating.
“I wasn’t quite right when I came back. That interrupted what had been a good season. It was frustrating and I never really got any consistency back after that.
“I was in and out of the team but it was nice to finish with a goal against Motherwell. It was a nice way to end the season, playing the way I know I can. That’s the way I want to go into this campaign.
“You actually learn more when things aren’t going so well. It’s nice to win but when you aren’t playing or are sitting on the bench, you have to re-evaluate what you need to do to get back into the team. You have to find new ways to react and develop your game.”