Ryan Christie has spoken out about his contract situation- highlighting that he signed his last deal just five months before he could have been a free agent.
Back in 2018 the former Inverness Caley Thistle man looked like he had missed the boat as the clock ticked down on his deal after two useful spells on loan at Aberdeen.
At the end of October Christie was on the bench at Murrayfield as Brendan Rodgers started with Olivier Ntcham and Eboue Kouassi in the Betfred Cup semi-final against Hearts.
At half time injuries forced a shuffle of the Celtic side- Christie was thrown on, scored one and created another and his Celtic career kicked on with a new deal signed within a month.
This time around things are different. Christie is an established internationalist with Europa League games and goals to his name.
Burnley and Nice have been linked with him over the last few weeks, with his current deal running till June 2022 the next 12 months will be critical to the path his career takes.
Speaking to The Sun about the speculation, he said:
I’ve spoken to the manager a few times up to this point. With everything going on, I didn’t think it was the right time to go into it.
We hadn’t played football in so long and weren’t back playing. Obviously, now it’s a bit different but I’ve still got plenty of time on my current contract.
Before this one I was down to five months to go at Celtic until we signed a new deal, so there’s plenty of time for that to resolve itself.
I’m just enjoying football again after the long break. It’s not occupying my thoughts just now and I’ve said that to the manager as well.
Christie will miss Saturday’s derby match after being identified as a close contact of Stuart Armstrong during preparations for Scotland’s match against Israel.