Scott Sinclair, the Celtic winger, last night underlined his commitment to the reigning Scottish champions and insisted that he is in no rush to return to a club down south.
The 27-year-old, a £3.5 million capture from Aston Villa in the summer, has been revitalised during his time in Glasgow as Celtic stroll towards a sixth consecutive title while remaining firmly on course for a domestic treble.
Sinclair, who has burnished a stellar campaign with 18 goals, has been a key part of the Brendan Rodgers revolution in the east end and the Englishman has declared that his future lies very much with the Parkhead club.
“With me now I’m enjoying every single moment,” said Sinclair, who is set to add a Ladbrokes Premiership-winning medal to his roll of honour with Celtic just one win away from retaining the title. “I’m in no rush to move back to the English Premier League.
“For me I’m happy to play under a manager that believes in me. We’re winning and winning trophies and you do think; what more could you want?
“When I came up here I didn't feel like I put too much pressure on myself. I was trying to get the happiness and enjoyment back and I've done that. You can see that in my football and how I am on the pitch . That’s down to me not putting pressure on myself and just getting on with playing."
While cynical observers in the English league regularly pour scorn over footballing affairs in Scotland, Sinclair admitted he never had any qualms about heading north of the border. The opportunity to play under Rodgers, who managed him at Swansea City and was also part of the Chelsea youth set-up when Sinclair was at the west London club, was a major factor in his decision-making and Sinclair has not regretted it.
He added: “Brendan being here was a massive factor. I’d known him from Chelsea and Swansea. Nowadays you need a manager who likes you and believes in you.
“At Villa I had four in a couple of years. Managers get changed so many times and each manager will prefer his own players.
“It was great for me to be under Brendan again and help me get my football back on track.”
With the domestic scene in a brief hiatus due to the international break, Sinclair has had time to reflect on the achievements of the season so far. With just 11 games to play in the league, Celtic can put the tin lid on all-conquering run with victory over Hearts at Tynecastle in a fortnight which would secure the championship crown.
“It just goes to show how hard we’ve worked, what the spirit is like and how well we’ve done as a team,” said Sinclair. “We were not at our best over the last few games – the draw against Rangers and then the win at Dundee. But now we have a break to refresh and go again.
“From a team point of view it’s been excellent. It’s not over. We have work to do but on a personal level I’m happy to be playing and scoring and getting my form back.
“The international break has arrived at a good time. We’ve played so many games up until now so it’s good to get a break, get away and recharge.”
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