Ryan Christie cool on talks to resolve Celtic contract situation

Ryan Christie has revealed he is leaving Celtic contract talks grounded - after Neil Lennon previously suggested such discussions would “take wings” once the transfer window closed.

Ryan Christie still has 21 months on his contract to run.

The club want the 25-year-old attacker to agree an extension on his current deal, which has 21 months to run with the Scottish champions. However, the Highlander is in no hurry.

His father Charlie Christie raised eyebrows in July when he stated his son was “ambitious” and would be attracting the interest of English Premier League scouts following his 20-goal haul in the curtailed 2019-20 campaign.

It heightened suspicions the Celtic player could have designs on following former team-mates Kieran Tierney and Stuart Armstrong, who have made the switch down south with Arsenal and Southampton respectively.

The trio’s close associations have left Christie currently isolating and out of commission for Scotland, and Celtic’s confrontation with Rangers on Saturday. It follows the Lothian Health Board decreeing both he and Tierney were contacts of Armstrong in the wake of the midfielder’s positive Covid-19 test.

Speaking before these developments, Christie presented his contract situation as on the back burner.

“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,” he said. “We hadn't played football in so long and weren't back playing. I've still got plenty of time on my current contract. Before this one, I was down to five months to go before we signed a new deal. So there's plenty of time for that to resolve itself. It's not occupying my thoughts just now and I've said that to the manager as well.

"It's crazy these days when people go into the last two years of their contract and there's a big freak out about when they're going to sign the next one. It's changed days. My dad always reminds me of when he'd go down to the last week of his contract and still hadn't heard anything… It's strange but I'm just enjoying playing again. For a club to offer you a contract you must be doing something right. So I'm happy – I was pleased with my season last year. Now, I want to get back to the highs and top form I hit then.”

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