Ryan Christie glad of Celtic's eagerness but focuses on Aberdeen

Ryan Christie's loan spell at Pittodrie has been so impressive that Celtic have offered to extend his contract but the player has put talks on hold until he has helped Aberdeen clinch second place in the '¨Premiership.

Ryan Christie wants to help Aberdeen finish second before turning his thoughts to a new Celtic contract. Picture: SNS.

The midfielder, pictured, has spent the last 17 months with the Dons and doesn’t want any distraction from the task of proving that only his parent club are better than his current one in the league this season.

The crucial double header at home to rivals Hibernian today and Rangers on Tuesday will be the last he plays for the Dons before returning to Parkhead for the start of pre-season training.

That is because he is not allowed to take part in Aberdeen’s final game away to Celtic, but the champions are so pleased with Christie’s progress during his north-east exile that they have already started talks on a new deal. The current one runs until the summer of next year but Christie doesn’t have time to think about that right now as his focus is on success with the Dons and proving he is good enough to break into Brendan Rodgers’ side next season

“There have been talks but I have put them to the side at the minute because my sole concentration is on Aberdeen,” said Christie. “I didn’t think it would be fair to start talking about that in such a critical part of Aberdeen’s season.

“Right now I am at Aberdeen and I want to finish on as big a high as possible. After that I can then start talking to Celtic again but it is definitely a positive and it gives me the confidence I am not being forgotten about.

“It is a compliment. They are still watching me and I can still have a future at Celtic but it is important to me in these next two games against top players in the league to prove that I am good enough to slip back into Celtic.

“These last 18 months up here have stood me in good stead though, and hopefully I can go back to Celtic and prove I belong there.

“I have had to deal with the pressure and trying to keep my consistency levels up. I feel I have learned so much up here and I have enjoyed working under the gaffer [Derek McInnes] as well.

“So all my concentration is on Aberdeen until the end of the season, but after that I am confident I will be going back to Celtic as a better player.”