Kieran Tierney has revealed that it did not all come easy for him as he went from Hoops kid to the club's academy posterboy.

The 20-year-old was described in some quarters as the best left-back in the country following his midweek display against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a performance which came on the back of penning a bumper six-year deal with the club.

However, while Tierney has been a mainstay since breaking into the senior team under Ronny Deila, he has admitted that there was a point as he looked to run professional that he feared he might not make it at Celtic.

Read more: Celtic's Kieran Tierney: I wish six-year deal could have been longer

Glasgow Times: Celtic's Kieran Tierney has thanked Brendan Rodgers for sticking by him when he first arrived at the club last year

"There was a time when I wasn’t getting a game," he said. "At 14 or 15, we went to the school that Celtic sent you to.

"It was at that stage when Scotland starts coming about. I never got picked for Scotland. A lot of times when you’re not in the Scotland squad, you’re not really playing club football either.

"Times like that were very hard. It was getting near the end of the school term and a lot of them had heard about their contracts.

"Me and a couple of others hadn’t. It was me and Aaron Comrie, who I will hopefully be playing against on Saturday. Neither of us heard anything till very, very late on. We got a deal in the end but the others got a longer-term deal. They got three-year deals at the start and we got one year. At times like that, you are looking at other options, whether it is to go away working or try and find another team. So youth football wasn't all plain sailing for me. For a good few years, I wasn’t getting a game.

" It made me work harder than ever. I was more hungry to get a new deal with Celtic, try and get on the same deal as my team-mates and try to get game time.

Read more: Davie Hay: Kieran Tierney will lead Celtic's charge for ten-in-a-row

“A few times both of us has to step down and play with the younger ones just to get game time. We really worked hard and broke our way in eventually.

“It happens to an awful lot, especially at that age if you are not growing fast like the other guys who play your position.

“I was doing gym work and football training but it was the way I was doing it. I was making sure that I was trying to run more than anyone else and be the best I could be but at that age there is only a certain amount that you can do otherwise you get wee injuries."

And Tierney has also thanked Brendan Rodgers for sticking by him when he first arrived rather than opting for experience as he sought to take the club back into the group stages of the Champions League.

“He has been brilliant," he said. "To sign two deals under him in a year-and-a-bit is unreal. The faith he put in me right from the start was amazing. I had only played one full season at first-team level and he could have brought in someone more experienced for the Champions League qualifiers so I have a lot to thank him for."