Harry Kewell sits on the sidelines these days as compatriot Aaron Mooy is serenaded by supporters with a song that once bore his name. But while ‘Daddy Cool’ may no longer ring out from the stands to laud the former Liverpool winger, there is at least one man at Celtic still intent on singing his praises.

One of Kewell’s main duties since joining Ange Postecoglou’s backroom team last summer has been to take the wide men in the squad under his, well, wing, and to improve them as players.

Whether they ultimately reach the heights he did during his own glittering playing career remains to be seen, but according to Liel Abada, Kewell has been fulfilling that remit and more since his arrival.

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Abada had a stunning debut season at Celtic, and while not always a starter in a hugely competitive area of Postecoglou’s team, his contribution whenever he is called upon has remained hugely impressive. In fact, he has scored 26 goals and created 14 more in just 91 appearances all in so far, averaging just under a goal or assist per 90 minutes on the field of play.

Abada feels then that he is still very much on an upwards trajectory as a Celtic player, and while his own hard work is the main reason behind that, a fair portion of the credit must also go to the coaches, like Kewell.

“I feel like I am a better player than I was last season to be honest,” Abada said.

“I think I can still learn a lot from the manager and his coaching staff to get even better.

“Everyone has helped me to get better, that’s the coaches and the players too. I look to improve my performances every time I get to play for the club. You have to do your best every day and that's what I try to do.

“I think this season [my goal is] to get the left-back one on one more and get confidence. The players help me with that, and the coaches do extra with me after training; help me with what to do, what not to do, what is better for me, what is not better for me. I just learn and want to get better and better.

“Gavin [Strachan] and Harry do it with me every time. I just want to get better for me, the team, the club, everyone. 

“I think we can learn a lot from [Harry] because he played in the Premier League and had an amazing career.

“He teaches us a lot about football because we are young players and want to get better all the time. It is very important for us that he looks after us.

“I didn't watch him [play] as I was still young. I don't remember that. I watched videos after I met him and he was very, very good and had an amazing career.

“It is a pleasure for me to learn from this player, just work hard, and it is very good he looks after us.”

The only slight regret so far this season for Abada, you might imagine, is that more of his appearances haven’t been starts. Of the 26 Premiership matches he has featured in, for example, he has made Postecoglou’s starting XI on only nine occasions.

At still just 21 years of age though, Abada is more concerned with impressing his manager to address that misbalance, rather than throwing his toys out of the pram.

“It is up to the manager who starts the game or not,” Abada said.

“I just want to come on and try to impact the game and to win for the team and everyone connected to Celtic.

“I just have to work hard and try to do my best to help the team when I get the opportunity.

“I think the manager has built a team that stays together no matter what is happening. We are all in it together and we work hard every single day to have success.

“We always look to play the Celtic way, but that togetherness is the key to our success.”

Abada was delighted to come on and contribute to Celtic’s win then over Rangers on Sunday that allowed them to retain the League Cup, though his dive late on – correctly punished by referee Nick Walsh - may comprise another lesson for the young man to heed.

While the Rangers players were happy to discuss their opponents in the lead-up to the game, you will be going some to get a Celtic player to respond. In fact, that is almost as unlikely as getting one of them to discuss a potential Treble, now rapidly becoming a probability rather than a mere possibility.

“We don’t worry about what anyone else says, we just focus on our football and trying to win,” Abada added.

“We know what we have to do in every game and that’s it. We just have to keep going and try to achieve our targets. If we can do that, we will have a good season.

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“Is the target a Treble? We want to win every trophy we can, but we know to do that we have to work hard every single day. Hopefully if we do that then we will get that target.

“The manager doesn’t let anyone look too far ahead, it is one game at a time. He always says to us to focus on the game and the next opponent, that’s it.

“We look at it day to day and thankfully on Sunday we did the job, now we have to keep going.”