Former Celt Frank McAvennie believes that Parkhead's failure to land John McGinn from Hibs this summer has enabled Ryan Christie to emerge at the club. McGinn opted to sign for Aston Villa after a protracted and public summer of transfer interest and negotiation from Celtic and while the Parkhead side were widely criticised for their failure to sign the Scotland internationalist, McAvennie has described as a blessing in disguise.

"If they’d signed McGinn I don’t think there’s any doubt that Christie was on his way," he said.

"It just shows you the part luck plays in football. If Ntcham and Brown hadn’t got injured Christie might also have been on his way.

"But he’s in. It’s all about taking that chance and he’s done it.

"I’ll be honest with you about Christie and admit I thought he would move on because he wasn’t good enough. Every time someone touched him he went down.

“Brendan Rodgers has built him up. He’s a wonderful player now. Now he can take someone putting the heid on him. That’s what living in Glasgow for a while does to you. After a difficult summer Celtic have re-established their grip on the domestic game and have moved back on top of the Premier League table. The first trophy of the season is up for grabs on Sunday as Celtic do battle with Aberdeen at Hampden for the Betfred League Cup and McAvennie has warned that Celtic can only beat themselves.

"If they get beaten, it will be by themselves rather than an opponent," he said. "If they turn up and play the way they can and have shown in the past few weeks they’ll take some stopping." Celtic are awaiting confirmation that Filip Benkovic will remain at Celtic for the duration of the campaign after Leicester boss Claude Paul intimidated as much last week. The Foxes have a recall clause in the defender's contract meaning that he could return to the Premier League in January of required but Rodgers is keen to have him until the summer. And McAvennie expects the 21-year-old Croatian to follow in the footsteps of Virgil Van Dijk by establishing himself at the very top level of the game. A permanent deal for the player is highly unlikely given that Leicester paid £13m for him just two weeks before he made his loan move to Glasgow but McAvennie has urged the Parkhead side to give it a go.

"He will just like van Dijk," he said. "You can see where he is going to go, and that’s the type of players Celtic should be getting. They have got one now. What it shows me is that Benkovic has given the whole team confidence.

“Benkovic can play. I’m really surprised. I thought he and [Kristoffer] Ajer were good together. Boyata has come back and the two have done well. I know Benkovic is on loan but I would love for us to buy him. I’d spend the money on him.

“No matter what you pay for him, you will get a lot more back if they sold him in a couple of years.

“I know comparing him with Van Dijk is saying something but that’s what I see in this lad. If you were to spend £15m on the boy now, you would get a minimum of £25m and also a few years out of him – plus an add-on when he moves on again.

“Benkovic cruises through matches. Good defenders read the game. One of the best I played against was Alan Hansen who wasn’t a hardman – he could tackle right enough – but he read the game so well and could make me look like a fool at times. I can see that in this boy.

"I think they’ve got a defender in Benkovic now that they can go and really attack. No disrespect to some of the boys who were playing at the back but when they were making stupid mistakes that affects the confidence of the whole team. A lot of them were basic mistakes. The fact they’ve cut them out since Benkovic came in is no coincidence.

"They can now attack with that reassurance."

*Frank McAvennie was speaking to promote 'An evening with Danny McGrain, Davie Hay and Frank McAvennie' which takes place on Monday, January 7 at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Tickets from £20.