James Forrest has thanked Brendan Rodgers for getting the best out of him at Celtic.

The Scotland internationalist is well on his way to hitting the 20-goal mark for the season and is already on his best ever return in front of goal for the club.

Forrest has become one of the leading contenders for Player of the Year this term following the consistency of his performances and he believes that Rodgers has been able to bring out the optimum form of his career.

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“I think since the gaffer came in last season everyone will say it has been really good,” he said. “We started pre-season well and I really enjoyed last season and then this season even more so. I have scored more goals and you feel part of the team, you feel confident and you feel good going into games.

“He speaks to everyone. He knows what players to do stuff with and with the attackers he gives us a licence in the final third to go and express ourselves. The boys that are here thrive on that.”

Forrest’s early days in his senior Celtic career were plagued by a series of niggling injuries with the club at pains to get to the bottom of the reason why.

At one stage he had to have specialist boots made but at 26 he believes he has put all of that behind them, something that has been borne out by the sheer volume of games he has played this term.

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“Everyone gets injured and goes through their career having some injuries,” he said. “It was more so a series of niggling injuries here and there rather than a serious injury but that can sometimes be as annoying as a serious one.

“For a few years now it has been good and I have played a lot of games. I just want to play as many as I can.”

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of Scott Brown’s decision to step down from international football, Forrest has echoed Rodgers’ sentiments that Kieran Tierney is an obvious choice to succeed Brown as captain.

“KT did excellently in the Netherlands game, and was only 19 or 20 at the time and was Scotland captain,” said Forrest.

“I think it would be a great shout for him to be captain. He doesn’t feel the cold either, whatever Broony does he seems to do!

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“To be fair, Darren Fletcher is still there and there are some experienced players in the squad,” said Forrest. “They are different types from Broony, not everybody is the same.

“There will be other players who can step up.”

And Forrest expects that Celtic will reap the benefit of Brown’s opportunity to take a breather when the international calendar takes precedence.

“The Celtic boys will say that it is a positive for us,” said the winger. “He’s been tremendous this season and if he gets a bit of rest during the international break then it’s only going to make him more hungry for the Celtic games, and hopefully we’ll benefit from that.

“He’s been phenomenal for the past couple of years now, and I think that’s why he decided to come back in the first place because of how good he was feeling.

“You see in Celtic games that he runs the most, he plays every game, and he’s so fit.

“He’s almost 33 now though, so not being involved in international is only going to prolong his Celtic career.

“You see him in the Champions League games and he’s still looking the best player every game we play in Europe and in the other big games. It can only help him continue that.”