IN THE NOW

Derek Mcinnes will have to step up his search for a creative midfielder after Brendan Rodgers confirmed that Celtic have no intention of selling Ryan Christie to Aberdeen when the player completes his loan deal at Pittodrie in May.

The Dons manager failed in an attempt to prise the player away from Parkhead on a permanent basis last summer and just last week vowed to try again if it looked like the midfielder was going to be surplus to requirement at his parent club.

Instead, Rodgers is intent on giving Christie the chance to make an impact with Celtic, who paid Inverness Caledonian Thistle £600,000 for his services in September 2015 but for whom he has only made 13 appearances since.

That will leave Mcinnes with another gap to fill as Kenny Mclean has already signed a contract to join English Championship side Norwich City at the end of the season, but the good news is Christie insists he is fully focused on doing well for his current manager and still has more to contribute.

“To be honest I haven’t really thought about it all and that is the best way to be in terms of focusing on my football right now,” said Christie.

“I thought that in January when a few questions were asked, and I said then that I wanted to concentrate from

“I want to get my level of performances up ashighasicanand when the summer comes we’ll see what happens”

RYAN CHRISTIE now until the end of the season. I want to get my level of performances up as high as I