Aberdeen’s Ryan Christie hoping to end loan spell on a high before returning to Celtic

RYAN CHRISTIE is not looking beyond Tuesday as he aims to end his time at Aberdeen on a high.

The attacking midfielder plays the final two games of his loan spell against Hibernian and Rangers before sitting out the last match of the Ladbrokes Premiership season against parent club Celtic.

Christie has helped the Dons build a three-point lead over their two nearest challenges for second spot and is determined to round off the job, starting with the visit of Neil Lennon’s side on Saturday.

The 23-year-old said: “Looking forward, I will just be reporting for Celtic for pre-season and we’ll take it from there but, most importantly for me right now, I’m desperate to help this club finish second.

“A lot of people have been asking me what my future holds but it’s hard to look past the end of the season.

“It would be such a great way to end my time at Aberdeen if we can steal second.

“It comes down to these two games and I need to do as much as I can to help the club in these two games. I’m sure it will be over like that and I will definitely miss my time up in Aberdeen.

“It’s brilliant that the two games I’ve got left are probably the two biggest games of our season so I’m really looking forward to them.”

Christie feels dealing with the pressure of an expectant Dons support for 18 months can boost his Celtic career.

The former Inverness player, who has made 12 appearances for Celtic, said: “This season for the first time in my career I have been lucky enough to play almost every game. It’s taught me so much and given me so much experience.

“This season with Aberdeen has given me so much responsibility, especially as an attacking player, to create goals and score goals and that will only help me too, at a big club like Aberdeen where there is a pressure to do well. It’s only been positive the move up here.

“Working under the manager has been brilliant but also dealing with pressure.

“When I went to Celtic from Inverness I was just a young boy playing in front of 3,000 and you go to Parkhead and are expected to dominate every team.

“The learning curve has mostly been coming up here to a big team like Aberdeen with a great following and still having that pressure of basically having to win every week and being able to cope with that as hopefully an important player.

“That’s just one of the many things that I can hopefully bring back to Celtic that has made me a better player.”