RONNY Deila last night insisted that Kieran Tierney, the 18-year-old left back who has established himself as a first choice regular at Celtic this season, is capable of forcing his way into the Scotland side in the near future.

Tierney has been one of the Scottish champions’ outstanding performers since being handed a start in the opening Premiership match of the 2015/16 campaign against Ross County at Parkhead back in August.

The childhood Celtic fan from the Isle of Man has excelled in European matches against Fenerbahce and Ajax and has kept former Scottish Player of the Year Emilio Izaguirre out of the starting line-up.

He is certain to be involved when the Glasgow club take on Ross County in the League Cup semi-final at Hampden on Sunday – and Deila believes he could soon be playing at the world-famous Mount Florida venue with his adopted homeland.

“It’s important to understand that as long as you are at Celtic you are going to have competition,” he said. “You have to fight yourself into a place because the demands at this club are unbelievable.

“You have to be good enough and I see in training every day when players are good enough. And when they are good enough they play, and I don’t care if they have played 100 times in the Premiership or if they haven’t played at all. I pick the players who have been the best.

“KT has shown that. He has said: ‘I am here, I want to play, I’m good enough to play’. He performs every time. My message to everybody is get on that training pitch or to the stadium to perform and get better. Then the chances will come.”

Deila added: “The positive of being at Celtic is that you can judge yourself against the best in Scotland and players who have 50 caps for their country. If, like KT, you can do that then you are okay. I don’t think he’s so far away from playing for Scotland.

“Now he has performed in Europe and in Scotland and he has shown he has taken a lot of steps. I think he has played against Fenerbahce and against other good teams. He is ready for the international team. He shows every day that he has a very high level.

“It’s not up to me to do it, but I would have no problem putting him into a Champions league or European game. When you play well for Celtic in Europe then you have shown you can do it on the international stage. I don’t care if you are 17 or 35. You have to be judged on performance.”

Deila coached Martin Odegaard, the 17-year-old Norwegian internationalist who won a move to Real Madrid last year, at his former club Stromsgodset and stressed that he sees similarities in the two players’ attitude towards the game.

“Martin made his debut at 14 - and the day after he was in the headlines in every newspaper having played so well after coming on,” he said. “But that day at 8am he was back in the gym!

"Now when he goes back to Norway he plays with his friends at a small ground near his old house. He comes back from Real Madrid and goes to this place and just has an hour or two extra with the ball. He wants to learn and get better. KT and him are examples to follow. Nothing comes for free.”