KENNY McLean might have been forgiven for having a John McEnroe “you cannot be serious” moment when he read Brendan Rodgers’ comments that St Mirren, the club the midfielder left two years ago, are the best side runaway Premiership leaders have faced domestically this season.

The remarks, uttered in the wake of Celtic’s 4-1 Scottish Cup win over the Jack Ross's team last weekend, were likely aimed in the direction of Rangers, according to the Aberdeen midfielder, given the kind of gamesmanship that normally precedes an Old Firm clash.

McLean smiled when asked for his reaction to the Celtic manager’s assessment of the Paisley side. “It could have been a wee dig at Rangers,” McLean said ahead of Motherwell's visit to Pittodrie today, a couple of weeks after he helped demolish them 7-2 at the same venue.

“But it's his opinion, and if that's his opinion then fair enough. But if it's a dig and it gets under people's skin then he's doing his job.

“There's nothing we can do about it. Everybody's trying to stop Celtic this season and they've not been able to do it.

“St Mirren put up a good fight – fair play to them – but who knows what his comments were for.

“He's obviously done it for one reason or another. It's down to other teams to go and prove that they are the best at Parkhead. He said St Mirren has done that so fair play to them.

“I saw the start of the game and St Mirren did well, but I think Celtic were comfortable in the end. We went to Parkhead and went down to a set-piece goal, but it's his opinion.

“If he's being honest with that then you respect it. If not and he's trying to get a few bites out of people then I'm sure he's getting them.”

Meanwhile, Pittodrie manager Derek McInnes believes McLean deserves a place in Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squads for the friendly against Canada at Hampden on March 22 and the World Cup qualifier against Slovenia four days later.

He is, according to McInnes, ready to add to his solitary cap, awarded for his appearance in the friendly against the Czech Republic a year ago. And McLean is pleased to have his backing.

He said: “The gaffer always pushes the players and that's why he's brought them to the club.

“If I'm on the radar of Gordon Strachan then that's great.

“If not, I need to work hard and get better to put myself in that frame. I've been there before and I think that makes you hungrier.

“You want a bit more of that and you want to taste more success on the international front. But you can only do as much as you can. If I’m not in the squad will I’ll just need to work harder.”