Ange Postecoglou’s early reign at Celtic has thrown up its fair share of surprises.

The Hoops have had a mixed start to the season but in doing so, the likes of Anthony Ralston and Ryan Christie have become genuine stars.

If you told supporters that would be the case when Postecoglou initially walked through the door, they’d have laughed.

What’s the word?

The future of Christie has been a puzzling one. The Bhoys attacker has been linked with the exit door on several occasions with his contract expiring in January.

He looked destined to take his leave but it would appear that fresh contract talks have occurred between him and the club.

With all that said, interest in the 26-year-old looks as though it’s dwindling. That’s according to Alan Nixon who delivered the following ten-word update this week.

He was responding to whether Burnley would sign the player: “I keep being told no … but he’s a total steal.”

Amazing news

If this genuinely is the case then Celtic supporters should be absolutely enthralled. After all, the Premier League has tempted many a Bhoy in the past with the most recent departure being Kristoffer Ajer to Brentford.

Christie was in diabolical form last term and would have been one of the first names through the exit door before Postecoglou arrived.

The Scot only found the net twice in his last 24 Premiership games during the 2020/21 campaign, a run that stretched back to November.

He may have only scored once this season but his overall performances have been superb. The 26-year-old put in a promising performance against Midtjylland in the Champions League and since then, he’s become an important part of the furniture again.

Christie found the net with an excellent header when Celtic beat Jablonec last week and then put in a creative masterclass against Dundee.

This was one of his best performances in the green and white to date, supplying three goals all with genius moments of individual play.

He struck up a wonderful relationship with the club’s new star striker, Kyogo Furuhashi, and fans will surely be lusting for more of that as the campaign goes on.

Bizarrely enough, Christie has suddenly become irreplaceable.

AND in other news, Celtic lead race to sign £3.4m gem who was too "strong" for Messi, Ange needs him...