THE Celtic manager delivered his Christmas message at a wintry Lennoxtown this week, expressing his contentment with the strides his players have taken towards implement his working practices, and promising greater achievements in the years to come.

And while Santa wasn't quite able to deliver a gift-wrapped Martin Odegaard, the teenage prodigy whom Ronny Deila promoted to the first team at Stromsgodset, the Celtic boss revealed last night that he hasn't removed him from his Christmas list just yet.

Odegaard turned 16 on December 17, marking the occasion with a whistle-stop tour of the most illustrious training grounds in Europe - Bayern Munich's Sabener Strasse complex, La Diagonal in Barcelona, Liverpool's Melwood and Arsenal's London Colney to name just four.

Ajax and both Manchester clubs are also credited with an interest, but Bayern were widely assumed to be favourites for his signature - until a report filtered out in the Spanish press this week that Barcelona had offered the player a deal, which would be agreed now, but only kick in when their transfer embargo ends in January 2016.

Until then, the player would be allowed to remain in Norway, but Deila's best play may be to persuade the player, his father Hans-Erik, Stromsgodset and the Catalan giants themselves that a season in Scotland could prove the perfect middle ground.

"Maybe the chances now are one in a million," said Deila. "But it is his choice. I am following the process. He got his debut from me when he was 15 years old so he knows he would get his chance here if he is good enough, that he would train with and be a part of the first team. I don't think he would get that at Barcelona.

"To go from Stromsgodset to Barcelona would be, I think, too much," he added. "It would be a very big chance to take. Better maybe to take smaller steps and think about playing time. At Barcelona, if you are not playing you hardly train. So it is hard to keep up. That is what his dad is thinking as well so hopefully there is a chance."

There has been a quiet revolution at Celtic in the six months since Deila left that tiny club north of the Arctic circle to seek fame and fortune at Parkhead. Like most transitional periods, there have been birth pangs along the way.

A rigorous regime of fitness-testing and adherence to a fast-pressing game were reportedly met with early resistance, but Deila has been vindicated by his time in Scotland, regardless of year-end statistics which leave a little to be desired, figures compounded by yesterday's home draw to bottom-of-the-table Ross County. Before this weekend, the club had already lost three league matches, three times as many as in all of last season. The 34 goals they have scored lags significantly behind their 2013-14 ratio, and this time last year Fraser Foster was embarking upon a record-breaking run of clean sheets.

The club's continental conquests haven't been much better. Two chances of reaching the Champions League group stages were spurned, against, first, Legia Warsaw and then Maribor, even if they compensated for such failures with qualification for a tough-looking Europa League last-16 tie against Inter Milan. Pressed for a New Year's resolution, Deila still feels his players could move the ball quicker, but compared to his first manager's job, Celtic has been plain sailing. In his first season at Stromsgodset, he received a new contract with the club bottom of the league.

"I haven't looked at the league table - I focus more on performances and it's exciting to see the players buying into things and enjoying playing," the Norwegian said. "But we have to get more goals out of the players than we do already.

"I like the way we are going. You have to look at the fact that I am a manager in his first year at a club, so we can get so much better results. Hopefully I'll be breaking some records of my own with the team after three or four years.

"That's what we're aiming for, but transition takes time and I'm happy with the way that transition is going. The players have adapted well to my ­methods. All the teams I've trained have been good in the first year but even better in the second year and very good in the third year. That's what I want to do at Celtic as well."

Exactly who is around to make those plans come to fruition remains to be seen. Speculation suggests young Scottish players such as Ryan Christie of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and John McGinn of St Mirren, could bolster his squad this January, if not more expensive Scottish options such as Dundee United's Stuart Armstrong.

Kris Commons could well attract transfer interest from Neil Lennon's Bolton Wanderers among others during this window, while Beram Kayal, a Bosman this summer, could also opt to leave.

"We know he is going out of contract at the end of the season and we will lose him at that time so we will see, but I am happy with Beram," said Deila. "He is a very good boy and a very good player."

As an icy chill came in off the Campsies, there was just one other frustration for the Celtic manager to confront. The club may be jetting off for some warm-weather training in Gran Canaria next month, but he has long desired a full-size indoor pitch on the site like the ones which are so common in Scandinavia.

"This year has been very good for weather: just one exercise has been cancelled," said Deila. "But we go into January and February. If it is so hard on the pitch that we can't coach then it will be tough to get the message we want into the players. Maybe if we had gone further in the Champions League we would have one by now…"