NEIL LENNON has challenged Nir Bitton to finally fulfil his potential after he signed a new deal yesterday that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2023.
The 28-year-old was signed by Lennon from Ashdod back in 2013, and the Celtic manager is a huge fan of the versatile Israeli, who is a midfielder by trade but can also operate in central defence.
Lennon believes there is still more to come from Bitton though, who spent a year out with an ACL injury before returning to the side towards the end of last season, telling his player he must now take more responsibility on his shoulders during games.
READ MORE: Nir Bitton fare pleased to seal Celtic future after contemplating life as a cabbie
“I’m delighted,” said Lennon. “I like him a lot and he is coming into his peak years. He knows the club and has been here for a while.
“He has had a few injury problems but when he has played for me since I came back, he has been absolutely excellent. The contract gives him that security now and he can really concentrate on his future here.
“He has fulfilled his potential to a point but there is more to come. I think he can take more responsibility at times.
“He is talented and powerful. He’s playing really well after returning from his last injury. I thought he was excellent against Hibs on Sunday.
“Before the injury, his performances against Stockholm and against Rangers at Ibrox were really, really good.
“He’s good around the club as well, really popular with the boys, so we are very pleased.”
READ MORE: Neil Lennon warns Celtic players they can't think they are favourites to defeat Copenhagen
Bitton played at centre-back in the defeat to Cluj last week as well as on the right of a back three in Sunday’s win over Hibernian, and Lennon is delighted to have such a versatile option within his squad.
“He can play a few roles really well,” he said. “Ultimately, I see him as a midfield player, but when he slots in at centre half it’s seamless for him.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here