Ahead of Friday night’s match with Dundee at Pittodrie Derek McInnes spoke to the media after a busy couple of days at Pittodrie.
“It is difficult to get good quality players in during the January transfer window. To have Ryan in the building now and being ready to help with the challenges ahead, is a fantastic signing for us.
“He is a talented boy, someone who has really grown in stature in recent years. He has handled going to Celtic. He has maybe not had the amount of game time he would have liked but there is no shame in that, the way they are going at the minute. Hopefully he can help us and the boys in the dressing room to achieve what we want to achieve this season.
“It is fantastic we have managed to get a player of Ryan’s quality. I think he will enjoy playing with our players, he will love playing here. Hopefully it is a win win situation. Hopefully he gets enough game time to help him bridge the gap to get into Celtic’s team. It is also important for the moment that he buys into what we are trying to do for the second half of the season.
“Speaking to him, he comes across as really level headed, very focused on his career and he wants to do well. He comes across older than a 21-year-old and his performances on the pitch suggest that as well. He is very calm in possession, he is very mature with his work, disciplined within his role.
“We will give him a platform. He will need to work hard to get into the side but if training this morning was anything to go by, it is going to go extremely well.
“We don’t have the luxury of being able to buy a Ryan Christie. We can’t buy a player of his quality especially during the January transfer window. So, it does not bother me if people want to criticise us for bringing in players from other teams. It happens up and down the country, it happens in other countries. I think we just need to be a bit more grown up about it.
“I said we wanted to bring in quality. Hopefully we have another one to get in as well. We are trying to get at least one more in. No one will be leaving until we do that. Maybe one or two of the younger ones will get some loan time.
“Other clubs were wanting to sign him on loan but he has chosen us. I am delighted that he sees us as the right club.
“We have not shut the door on James Maddison’s return. I have made no secret of the fact I wanted him to return but we can’t sit back and wait for things to happen. We were let down a bit last year in the January window with two or three things. Just when you think you are getting somewhere you are disappointed and then have to pick the pace up again. We have to concentrate on what we can affect.
“There is no doubt my dressing room got a lift from Graeme Shinnie re-signing and Ryan Christie walking in the door. It has been a good few days for us.
“We now concentrate on the Dundee game. I like Friday night football. I like Friday night home games, I think we have a good record under the lights here at Pittodrie. We have had a decent record against Dundee over the past few seasons but Paul always puts out a very competitive team.
“They will come up here looking for a result. They will be disappointed with last week’s result, but overall Paul has done fantastic there. They will be looking to get into that top six this season so we have a tough job but we are trying to make it five wins out of five and continue our winning sequence.
“Team news is that everyone is fit.”
RedTV | to watch his pre match media conference in full please click here
RedTV | to watch his pre match media conference in full please click here
