Dorus de Vries discloses how Celtic teammate Craig Gordon reacted to him after Dutchman was picked for Aberdeen win

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The 35-year-old made his debut for the Scottish Premiership side at the weekend.

Dorus De Vries, during his time with Nottingham Forest

Dorus de Vries has told the Daily Record that Craig Gordon wished him well after the Dutchman was picked ahead of the Scotland international for Celtic’s game with Aberdeen on Saturday.

De Vries joined the Hoops in the summer, and having worked alongside Brendan Rodgers during their time at Swansea City, it appeared that the 35-year-old may be a genuine rival to Gordon’s place as first-choice at Parkhead.

De Vries had worked with Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers at Swansea

And after the 33-year-old endured a mixed night in Israel in midweek – saving a penalty but also playing a key role in Hapoel Be’er Sheva’s second goal of the contest – some may have read into the fact that it was de Vries who took his place in the starting line-up against the Dons.

Derek McInnes’ men were the Bhoys’ closest challengers last season so it would be difficult to imagine that Rodgers would be looking to play anything other than his strongest squad available, especially with the first Old Firm clash of the campaign just on the horizon.

Craig Gordon had been Celtic’s undisputed number one for a while

Also, with the international break now upon us, it is unlikely that the Northern Irishman would have been considering the prospect of resting any players as they would have had a greater amount of time to recover from any knocks collected in the 4-1 win.

And it is possible that Gordon was having similar thoughts about his long-term position after being dropped for the weekend, but de Vries has explained that if there was any frustration over the decision, he did not let it show.

“Craig wished me well and the other goalkeepers as well,” he told the Record.

“That’s the way I like to work as well, my character is the same.

“You always want to wish the team well and players and Craig is not any different. We are professionals, you want to get the best result out of the players and you support each other no matter what.”