Ryan Christie has been dazzling at Celtic this season.
Michael Stewart has suggested to BBC Sportsound that Ryan Christie may not be enjoying a Celtic resurgence this season had Brendan Rodgers signed John McGinn.
In the summer, Celtic lodged three unsuccessful bids for the Scotland midfielder, who wound up joining Aston Villa in a £2.75 million deal.
But Stewart feels that the Hoops’ failure to land McGinn has produced a silver lining in the form of Christie.
The 23-year-old has been brilliant under Brendan Rodgers during the past month and signed a new deal at Parkhead on Monday, having been drafted into the Scotland squad.
Both players operate in a similar position, and Stewart does not believe that Christie would be getting chances to shine if Rodgers was successful in signing the 25-year-old star.
“Two months on from the end of August and John McGinn doesn’t sign, there was a disaster looming at Celtic – the options in midfield were looking paper thin – but now, because of that, Ryan Christie has got his chance,” Stewart told BBC Sportsound.
“If John McGinn was at Celtic, Ryan Christie would not be getting his chance.”
He’s probably right, to be fair. Christie’s run in the side has come in the absence of both Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham, but would he even be in Glasgow still if McGinn had signed? Probably not.
As much he rates Christie, Rodgers wouldn’t have needed him in the first-team squad and there’s a good chance that the young Scot would have returned to Aberdeen, where he enjoyed two loan spells in recent years.
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