Davie Hay: Happiness with Celtic may yet be best pay-off for Guidetti

John Guidetti has been a breath of fresh air both on and off the field for the Hoops, and it's no surprise that much of the chat is surrounding getting him tied down on a permanent deal when his loan expires next summer.

It's something which I'm sure the board are now treating as a priority, especially given how much he's impressed in the short time he has been here from Manchester City.

Before he was scoring the goals, in his first few games under Ronny, he probably wasn't up to speed and needed to get games under his belt.

But now he has found his fitness you are seeing the return Celtic are getting from him.

There was a bedding-in period, but he's now not just doing well, he's doing exceptionally well. John has become the first name on the team sheet.

I think the board at Parkhead are aware that they need to push the boat out to make sure John stays in a Celtic shirt beyond the summer.

The plus side is that the boy himself seems to be enjoying himself here, and that's a very important factor.

Given his two-year period of inactivity due to illness, he appears to be loving his football and loving life in Glasgow, which can only be a positive.

There will come a time when he will say: 'I'll see what my agent has to say,' and that's when the financial side of things will have a bearing on his future.

I wouldn't discount him staying at Celtic because he's enjoying himself, and there's the small matter of another famous Swede who did very well up front for the club. I'm sure the thought of Henrik and what he achieved in Scotland is in his mind.

At this stage of his career he might think this is the best option for him, even if he can get bigger financial rewards elsewhere.

I truly believe he is on course to be the best striker Celtic have had for a good number of years now. He's certainly heading that way.

If John maintains his form and his current goalscoring ratio - which will be no mean feat given he's currently on eight goals from eight games - then he will definitely be up there.

A price-tag of £5million has been placed on him, although I'm not quite sure where that comes from.

His contract is up in the summer, and he can speak to clubs about a pre-contract in January, so I don't understand why Celtic would pay that kind of money for him.

It's not to say he is not worth it, however.

There are players, of course, who have been in a similar situation and maybe have chosen the wrong path.

Gary Hooper was banging in goals for Celtic, which resulted in him being touted for an England call-up on account of his scoring record domestically and in the Champions League.

He then went to Norwich, struggled for a sustained run of goals, and is now battling it out for a place in the English Championship team.

The only difference is if John keeps up his current streak he will be attracting clubs that are a lot bigger than Norwich.

I've said it already, but the key to all of this is that he is happy at Celtic. That will count for a lot, if and when he has other more lucrative offers on the table.

While we can sit and admire how much he has lit up Deila's team in the Premiership and the League Cup, it draws attention to the fact that he is missing from their Europa League exploits.

The Swede was not registered in time to feature in the group stage of the competition, but can will be eligible to play in the knockout phase, if of course Celtic manage to get that far.

If that's the case, then he'll be in the spotlight a bit more.

But even if he does not attract more attention, I still don't believe you can dismiss the possibility of the club tying him down on a long-term deal.

While I'm sure John will have thought about Henrik and his legacy at Celtic, I was interested to read Ronny compare his in-form striker to the Hoops hero, claiming he can achieve the same cult status as his countryman if he stays in Glasgow.

For me, the only similarity between the two right now is that they are both Swedish. There is a period of time which needs to go by before you can start putting the two of them in the same bracket.

John is a confident lad and has already come out and said that he wants to win a treble and wants to win the Europa League.

That ambition is fine, but I can't remember Henrik coming out and saying what he was going to do, he just went on to the park and did it.

He still doesn't say much, mind you!

So far John is doing well. Hopefully he will stay at Celtic long enough for us to make a fair comparison between the two men.

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