YOU might think Stefan Scepovic would be heartily sick of John Guidetti by now.

From the moment the paperwork on his loan deal from Manchester City was concluded - just hours after Sporting Gijon had signed off on Scepovic's own on-off transfer saga for a fee of £2.2 million at around 10.38pm on deadline day - the Swede has comprehensively stolen his Serbian strike rival's thunder.

Guidetti's on-field smarts have generally earned him the one available starting spot in Ronny Deila's rigid 4-2-3-1 shape, while his panache and chutzpah - not to mention 10 goals in his first 11 starts - have delighted the Celtic support. Scepovic, regardless of the fact he has committed to stay at the club beyond January, has undeniably paled by comparison.

While uncertainty swirls around Guidetti's future - the club have agreed a fee thought to be around £5m with parent club Manchester City, but are aware that Marseille see him as a potential replacement for the soon-to-depart Pierre-Alan Gignac - the only uncertainty surrounding the Serb was whether he would be shipped out on loan this January. Deila felt moved this week to insist that wouldn't be the case, but while Scepovic clearly craves more chances to prove himself, he also said last night that his preference would be for Guidetti to join the club on a permanent basis.

"Why not?" said Scepovic. "When you have good players in the squad it is always good. Our atmosphere in the dressing-room is good and we need to keep it like that."

Prior to yesterday's game against Motherwell at Fir Park when he came on as a late substitute for James Forrest, this lean, stealthy 24-year-old from Belgrade - a former team-mate of Nir Bitton's at FC Ashdod in Israel - had made just five starts in all competitions, with two goals to his name. Although the return to favour of Leigh Griffiths complicates matters somewhat, with Guidetti ineligible for European duty until after Christmas, another opportunity is likely to present itself in the Europa League against Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday night. Dead rubber or not, few will be taking things more seriously than the Serb internatiional, who is likely to get a special reception from the Croatian fans.

"It was good to read that [Deila's comments that he was staying in January]," said Scepovic. "It's important the manager believes in me and I hope I will get more chances. The more time you have on the pitch, the more confidence you have. We have played with one striker so far but, you never know, in some games we may play with two," he added. "It's the manager's choice and, of course, John is scoring goals now. Leigh is there too so it's not easy. But it's good for us to have so many good players competition for the position as it makes everyone work harder.

"We want to win the league and we have important games coming up in the Europa League. We may be through to the knockout round, but it would be nice to finish the group with a victory. The match brings me near to Belgrade, but it is a game like every other for me. It has not been easy for me because I came from a different league and I needed time to adapt. But I have really worked 100% every time that I have got on to the pitch, but of course I can do more. Scoring goals is the most important thing for a striker so I want to score more. I need to continue and the goals will come."

With the exception of tribunal situations such as the one which will meet soon to put a value on Charlie Telfer's move from Rangers to Dundee United, Scepovic was the only player bought by any Scottish club for serious money last summer. It has become another stick for the player's critics to beat him with, but he insisted the price tag wasn't weighing him down. "It's not pressure," Scepovic said. "It says I had a good season in Sporting and they wanted to get some money for me because we did not make a good result in the Segunda Division in Spain. Your value is based on the previous season."

If Deila has been wary of playing the Serb too frequently, he certainly professed himself pleased with the Serbian's application as a substitute against Partick Thistle in midweek. With such uncertainty over Guidetti, not to mention the possibility of injuries and suspensions ahead, he has little option but to patiently work on his deficiencies.

"Stefan had two or three chances, worked hard and managed to keep the ball sometimes as well," said the Norwegian. "That's what we have been working on, how to be a target man and hold the ball in. Every time he has played he has created chances, but he needs to be make better decisions in the last third. But he is hungry, you can see that when he plays, and I like that. He is getting near the starting line-up."

With 11 senior clubs to his name - many of them loans - by his 24th birthday, Scepovic's career to date has been an itinerant one. But he hasn't given up hope yet of settling down in Glasgow. To do that, however, he must first find a way to step out of a certain Swede's shadow.