STEFAN SCEPOVIC reckons the four years he has spent travelling around Europe can be his passport to success in a Celtic jersey.

The 24-year-old striker played for clubs in his native Serbia plus Belgium, Israel and Spain before landing in Scotland last month.

He also clocked up even more air miles in a number of loan moves that included a spell in Italy at the Serie A outfit Sampdoria when he was just a plucky 20-year-old.

After six games in and out of the Hoops team, Scepovic has at last started to display his promise with two goals in his last two starts.

And the former Sporting Gijon marksman is now confident his well-travelled legs can click into gear for tonight's League Cup tie with Partick Thistle.

Scepovic said: "I will never know what might have happened if I had not left Serbia and made the change.

"I learned a lot in Italy because there were very good players around me and I was young and could look at them in training. It was a very good experience for me.

"It is good for you being away from home, you learn a lot of things.

"You get to see other countries and learn how people think and how they do things. It can make me stronger."

One of the key factors in Scepovic's development is the fact he was able to leave Serbia at such a young age.

It was a path his father Sladan was not able to take until he was over 27 due to the official policy of what was then Yugoslavia when he played for Partizan Belgrade - and, ironically, scored the goal that knocked Celtic out of the Uefa Cup Winners' Cup in an epic Parkhead clash in 1989.

Eventually Scepovic Snr moved abroad to play for Apollon Limassol in Cyprus then the Spanish side Merida.

But his son believes that being away from home at a young age has helped him toughen up mentally and physically to cope with the demands of playing for the SPFL Premiership champions.

He explained: "When I was 18 I was playing for OFK Beograd, a club with a good academy. One day the director called me and said that I had to go to Italy, to Sampdoria.

"I knew nothing about it - it was the first time I had heard about it.

"The next day I went home and my mum and dad were asking, 'Where is are you going?' They did not know nothing about it either.

"But in Italy they like experienced players so it was a new experience for me as I was so young.

"I learned a lot on the training pitch about how to play striker.

"Living abroad was difficult. In the first couple of months in Italy there was another Serbian player there and he helped me a lot.

"Maybe if I'd stayed in Serbia and waited two or three years more it might have been different. But I believed in myself.

Scepovic added: "It was different in my father's day. It was the rule in the former Yugoslavia that you could not leave the country until you were 27. It was reduced later.

"But you get more experience when you go out of the country. Now every club in Serbia loses about seven young players.

"Some players take their chance when they leave the country, some others take their time.

"I've said I would take a little time to adapt to the football in Scotland but I really believe in myself. I can do a lot better."