Brendan Rodgers has explained how James Forrest was helped to his scoring best by Scott Sinclair.
The winger has been on fire recently, scoring 11 goals in 11 games.
However, fans will be surprised to learn that less-than-clinical Sinclair has been the motivation behind Forrest’s form.
Growing confidence is the key for Forrest
Rodgers claims that the biggest factor in Forrest’s form is confidence.
This is no surprise to the average Celtic fan who has always known this to be the case.
His eight-year stint in the first-team has seen the winger go through bouts of fantastic form.
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Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp was even sniffing about, wanting to bring the Scot down south.
And Rodgers believes that Sinclair has been influential in the winger’s upturn in form.
Rodgers told the Daily Record : “I think what was also a big help for him was Scott Sinclair coming in. Scott was huge for him.
“He’ll have played with strikers here who scored 20-plus goals but all of a sudden here was a winger scoring 27 in his first season.
“That gave him permission to score goals as well and sometimes you need that inspiration of other players to make you think ‘actually, do you know what? It really is my job to score’.”
Competition was at its peak over the past two seasons
Rodgers also championed the success of competition in the squad since he joined in 2016.
The boss was able to pick from Sinclair, Forrest and Patrick Roberts – all competing for a starting place in training.
Forrest is now blossoming from raising his game and nobody can come near him.
And Rodgers doesn’t think the 27-year-old has peaked yet.
The manager said: “He’s been brilliant for me and he’s only going to get better and better.”
Forrest hit the first hat-trick for Scotland whilst playing for Celtic since Jimmy Quinn, scoring three times against Israel in the Nations League.
Unfortunately, ‘The Croy Express’ netted four times in one game for Scotland, going one better than Forrest.
However, the present Celtic winger has scored four goals in one half this season for The Bhoys.
There is no doubt that Forrest now has the ability to get into the history books.