JAMES Forrest reckons Scott Allan will go on to become a great signing for Celtic – but first he faces a battle to get into Ronny Deila’s first team. The 23-year-old was undergoing a medical yesterday and finalising the details of his £275,000 move from Hibs, which will see Dylan McGeouch and Liam Henderson will go in the other direction, the latter on-loan until the end of the season. While the likes of Kris Commons, Stefan Johansen and Stuart Armstrong can play in a similar role and Allan is a boyhood Rangers fan, Forrest, his one-time Scotland Under-21 pal, says the player wouldn’t have had to “think twice” about the prospect of joining the Parkhead club.

“I’ve trained with Scott a couple of times and played with him for the Under-21s, and he’s a really good player,” said the winger. “He’s technically really good, the type of player that will be good for Celtic. You saw that when he played a few games for Dundee United and obviously at Hibs last season he showed what he can do. I’m positive he can come here and be a really good player. But a club like Celtic is massive and the fans are tremendous and any player that comes in will need to do the same as the boys who are here and give everything.

“We’re the champions and we’re trying to get into the Champions League and he is a player with ambitions and he’ll want to come and play with Celtic,” Forrest added. “I don’t even think he would have been thinking twice about it.

“He’ll be confident in his ability and he’ll know he can come here and do a job and I’m sure he can. But it’s good for all the players. They can’t just rest on what they’ve done, they need to keep pushing on and show the gaffer what they can do.”

Allan has made no secret of his affection for Rangers, who had three bids for the player turned down by a Hibs side who were determined not to sell to their Championship rivals, but Forrest feels it won’t take long for the Celtic supporters to take him to their hearts. “Once you start playing games then everything else gets forgotten about,” he said. “I am sure the fans will be right behind him because he will be a really good player for Celtic.”

While Allan’s creativity and flair could become an X factor, possibly from the bench, if Celtic are searching for a goal in their midweek Champions League qualifying tie against Malmo, Forrest is one man who is in no mood to give up his first team spot. The winger was in superb form for 60 minutes against Kilmarnock in midweek, even if Celtic ultimately drew the match, and will hope to carry that form into today’s home Ladbrokes Premiership meeting with Inverness Caledonian Thistle. “On a personal note I thought I played well, but it was obviously disappointing that we didn’t get the three points, which at the end of the day is the main thing,” he said. “But it is good that we have a game against Inverness coming up so hopefully we can put that right.”