RONNY DEILA will never change the aggressive nature of Nadir Ciftci – because that’s why he signed him for Celtic.

The Turkish striker is banned for the first six Ladbrokes Premiership games of the season, his punishment for biting former Dundee player Jim McAlister last season when playing for Dundee United.

Deila does not obviously want to see a repeat of that incident, but that does not mean he wants Ciftci to become a different footballer to the one who caused Celtic so many problems last season before signing for the club.

Asked about the 23-year-old’s aggressive nature, Deila said: “That’s a good thing. He was always a handful when we played against him. This aggression is one of his strengths, but it has to be controlled.

“You can’t take this away from him. That’s how it is. Winners are often playing on the edge and do everything to succeed.

“Now we have to take it situation by situation. He is disappointed right now. We, of course, want him to play football without any suspensions.

“There is a thin line between being aggressive and going over the line. He is still young and it’s very important that all the players at Celtic show aggression, but it has to be in a fair play way.

“He has been fantastic so far for Celtic and I’m expecting that to continue.

“Nadir is not a challenge. Outside the pitch he is very nice. On the pitch, he is also good in my opinion. I don’t think there will be any problems.”

Ciftci travelled to Iceland with the squad ahead of the Champions League second leg qualifier against FC Stjarnan, the ban does not extend to European games, with Celtic holding a 2-0 lead after last week’s match.

Deila was not hugely surprised his player was found guilty of the offence.

He said: “It is something that happened in the past. We have to keep going on.

“He can play a lot of games in the Champions League, hopefully, and then I think the situation would be good.

“It’s no problem for him to play in Europe. We will only play one game a week, so he will train well and it’s important for him to get fitter and also he needs to understand the way we play.

“I can’t do anything about it anyway so I haven’t used any energy (to look at it). Did I expect the verdict? Again, I’m not a lawyer. I did not know exactly what was coming up, but we have to take the penalty and move on.”