Celtic assistant Chris Davies has quietly rebuffed Pedro Caixinha's claim that Rangers have the best squad in Scotland.

The new Ibrox boss raised a few eyebrows with the statement this week at his inaugural press conference, but Davies has insisted that Celtic's 33-point lead over Rangers is there for a reason.

“I was told about that, I didn’t actually see it myself," said Davies when asked about the comments. "Everyone can have their own opinion on what they think. I think it’s pretty clear for anybody looking at the league, where it’s at. We have certainly had an incredible season judging by that comment.

"But we’re fine, we’re focused on ourselves, we do our talking on the pitch and we take care of business on the pitch and we’ll always be that way.”

And Davies also maintained that whatever is going on elsewhere will have no significant bearing on how Celtic go about their transfer business this summer.

"Personally we have no interest in what they are doing," he said. "It’s just ‘how can we get better, can we be the best we can be, can we improve our squad, can we improve our play, can we be even better next year’ and other teams can do what they want. No interest. It’s just about us being the best we can be.”

If Celtic are successful in their pursuit of a Treble and also go through the season unbeaten, it could well prove to be a difficult campaign to top.

Davies, though, has warned that Celtic are relentless in their quest for incessant improvement.

“I think we have to look at performance indicators really, in terms of how can we improve, what elements of our game do we think we could be better at," he explained. "You never know exactly if you’re going to have the same winning run or unbeaten run or things like that, but I think what is important is what we can control and sit back in the summer and reflect on where we are, what have we done well, what can we do better, what do we need to add whether it’s in personnel or something tactically.

"How do we want to develop and evolve and keep that evolution of the team so you are never predictable, you are always a threat. I think that’s the process we will go through.

I think it’s important that there is a sensible outlook on it as well and an acknowledgement that the unbeaten run and the winning run, breaking records that have stood for a long time, is something special. So of course our ambition will be ‘can we do it again’. But I think we need to have that outlook on it.”

And the Hoops number two has also pointed out that the preparations for next season are already well underway.

"It is a daily conversation, really," he said. "It’s dialogue. What areas do we feel could improve, what players do we feel could develop more, what things could we add. That’s an ongoing conversation. Brendan often talks about it and I talk with him about it. That is ongoing and you have to make the right decisions in terms of how you go about that and that’s the process we will be going through in the next few months.”