He is brilliant – Celtic player raves about reported Rangers main target

Mon 30 October 2017 14:10, UK

By James Black

On-loan Celtic ace Ryan Christie has claimed Derek McInnes is the “main reason” he chose to join Aberdeen temporarily.

Christie is in his second loan stint with the Dons and has quickly became a key player for Derek McInnes’ side.

Aberdeen have only lost two of the 23 league games Christie has been involved in since initially joining in January.

After joining Celtic from Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2015, Christie has struggled to make the breakthrough at Celtic Park and has enjoyed fruitful loan spells back with Caley and with their northern rivals Aberdeen.

McInnes has referred to Christie as one of Aberdeen’s best players and the midfielder admits he will be disappointed to see McInes leave if he is appointed as Pedro Caixinha’s replacement as Rangers manager.

“Derek McInnes is the main reason I came up here” claimed Christie, as quoted by The Scotsman website.

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“The way I got on with him and I loved playing under him for the last six months of last season.

“When I was told I could go out on loan again, Aberdeen was top of my list for that reason.

“I’ve no regrets. I have loved training with him and being part of his squad.

“But it’s not just me – a lot of the boys will be disappointed if he did leave because of what a great manager he is.

“It’s a credit to him that we’ve maintained second place over the years.

McInnes is favourite to replace Caixinha at Rangers after leading the Dons to three consecutive second-place finishes in the Scottish Premiership and winning a Scottish League Cup with the Pittodrie side.

Christie’s form for the Dons is likely to see him named in Malky Mackay’s Scotland squad to face Holland at Pittodrie next month.

The midfielder will have one year remaining on his Celtic contract when he returns to the Hoops at the end of the season.

In other Celtic news, Chris Sutton has been critical of his Hoops fan favourite, comparing him to a £52million Premier League player.

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