It’s unbelievable how fast Ryan Christie has broken into the Celtic first team. Who could have predicted that in the summer?
The Scotland international is in the form of his life, and netted again at the weekend in Celtic’s comfortable 3-0 victory over Hamilton.
Christie looked like another failed project at Celtic. Two loan spells to Aberdeen certainly seemed to indicate this. Despite the 23-year old now being given his opportunity, it could have been very different for the Celtic midfielder had Rodgers got his way in the summer.
Celtic were interested in bringing John McGinn to the club, with the Daily Record reporting that the Hoops made a bid in July. That bid failed, with the former Hibs man opting to sign for Aston Villa. Christie has since occupied the role McGinn would have had at Celtic.
However, would the in-form midfielder have got his chance if McGinn had moved to Parkhead?
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McGinn failure the reason for Christie Success
The Aston Villa midfielder is a powerful box-to-box midfielder. He would have given Celtic a natural replacement for Stuart Armstrong, providing an end product in the final third.
It’s amazing to see Christie develop and play well in this role.
The youngster has shown his desire to be a Hoops player. He only featured 13 times last season, and will blow that number out the water this term.
McGinn has performed well for Villa, but that was to be expected. Christie’s performances have caught the eye more than the former Hibs man due to the sheer shock of how good they have been.
If McGinn signed for Celtic, there would be no Christie breaking into the starting XI. It has been an accidental masterstroke for Rodgers.
Christie has also been impressive in the Europa League. He has shown that he can perform to a high level for the Hoops in Europe, proven by his wonderful display against RB Leipzig.
The former Aberdeen man has turned into the player McGinn could have been at Celtic, and Christie is perhaps performing better than McGinn would have done at Parkhead.
The former Hibs midfielder would have been a great signing for Celtic, but Christie’s performances have meant losing out to Villa didn’t matter.