MARC CROSAS has been tipped to be a major player for Celtic as they chase their first Treble since 2001.

MARC CROSAS has been tipped to be a major player for Celtic as they chase their first Treble since 2001.

The Bhoy from Barcelona has been frustrated by his lack of games time since moving to Parkhead from the Nou Camp last summer.

He was finally beginning to make inroads into Gordon Strachan's starting XI when a serious hamstring tear in the closing seconds of the win at Inverness Caley last October pulled him up short - literally.

Ironically, a lack of games was cited by Strachan as a major contributing factor in the injury.

Which made it all the harder for Crosas to thole the following 10 weeks as he was restricted to watching as Celtic's Champions League campaign fizzled out and their championship challenge stuttered.

The 21-year-old's patience has been rewarded, however, and he made a welcome return to the line-up last weekend in the 2-1 Homecoming Scottish Cup fourth-round win over Dundee.

Even better news for the Spanish midfielder is that his manager is almost more pleased to see him back in Hoops than the player is himself.

And Strachan can assure Crosas that he is very much in his thoughts for the second half of the season when the prizes are going to be decided.

Strachan confirmed: "Marc can be a man who plays a significant part in the rest of the season for us.

"If you look at some of our bigger performances, or our pleasing-to-the-eye performances, he has been involved in them. Marc is a total foot- baller."

Of course, some games will suit his qualities more than others and, for that reason, Paul Hartley and Barry Robson will be brought into the equation with Crosas to see who partners Scott Brown in the centre of the midfield.

But when someone to pick a pass and retain possession is required - particularly in home games when the opposition want to sit deep and frustrate - Crosas will be very much in the frame to do his stuff.

Being the self-critical individual that he is, the youngster would not be satisfied with his performance last weekend.

While the spotlight was on the short-comings of Artur Boruc and the scoring return of Aiden McGeady, Strachan was keeping a close eye on the bigger picture, including the contribution of Crosas.

After 64 minutes, the manager had seen enough and decided to replace the comeback kid with Robson, mindful that a tiring player is much more susceptible to further injury.

On reflection, Strachan was happy to get Crosas and other recovering stars such as Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink safely back into action.

He said: "The reason for Saturday's team selection was to get that game out of those players.

"We got four players who have been injured on to the field, and that means my squad is getting more games between them. The squad is getting stronger again, and that's important with the schedule ahead.

"If you look back to the beginning of the season when we used the squad fully, that was a productive period for us.

"We have to start thinking about doing that again because we have good players and we want to keep them on their toes.

"No disrespect to Dundee, but I felt we had enough in our locker up front to bring people in and get that rusty match out of their system.

"We were fortunate in that we got away with it."

That's an honest assessment from the man who knows anything other than victory would have brought criticism raining down on him.

However, Strachan has not just filed the game away under job done'.

There were lessons to be learned, and players who need to learn them.

"We analyse every game," explained Strachan.

"We sit down on the Monday and say, where could we have done better? There were a couple of players who played against Dundee who I said to after the game, Listen, we need to do this and do that to get you back to your best.' "It was not just Artur. There were two or three who I said this is what we need to do next week and the next week again to get you back to full form."

Ensuring as many players as possible get back into top gear is going to be even more important than usual because the manager does not anticipate any major injection of fresh talent in this transfer window.

It is a message he is repeating ad nauseum, even if he knows it is one the supporters would rather not hear.

The good news for them is that Strachan is happy to go forward into the final four months of the campaign with the squad he already has at his disposal, confident the likes of Crosas and Vennegoor, plus Shaun Maloney - who is still a couple of weeks away from returning after his hamstring injury - can make even more of a contribution.

On the subject of more signings to add to Niall McGinn and youngsters Milan Misun and Michael Lang, the manager said: "It won't be big-money transfers, that's for sure.

"We have to be prudent these days, but we're still looking out there to see if we can get some bargains and make the squad stronger.

"If it doesn't happen then I will more than gladly work with the guys I've got just now.

"This time last year we brought Georgios Samaras in on loan and it was good because we could have a look at him and he could have a look at us.

"So that was a great arrangement, and if something like that happened again it would be a fantastic bonus."