Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair have hit 50 goals between them this season, with both players arguably vying for the Player of the Year award.

Stiliyan Petrov played with some of the great recent partnerships of Celtic’s time, with Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton dovetailing to great effect.

And he believes that the way the dup have gelled has enabled the Hoops to kick on a gear this term.

“They are both excellent players,” said Petrov. “A sign of great players is the way that they can gel very quickly and anticipate how one another plays.

“They have been an outstanding partnership. These awards at the end of the season could go to either one of them but you could say that both of them deserve it. They have been sensational and it is not just the goals they have scored but the quality of the goals too.

“They have been excellent signings for the club.”

Dembele was the subject of interest from Chelsea in the January transfer window and, with 32 goals so far this season, there have been eyes on him almost from the early weeks of the season.

Petrov played alongside Larsson and the criticism directed towards the Swede repeatedly was that he would not be able to net the same amount of goals elsewhere than he did in the Scottish league. Sound familiar?

“The only people who ever said that were people who had not played with Henrik or had not played against him,” said Larsson. “I had no doubt he could do it at any level and neither did Martin [O’Neill] or any of our players. We saw it every day, the quality that he had.

“There was ignorance on some people’s part but he soon proved his point.

“I don’t know if it is the same for Moussa or not because he is still very young.

“But what we have all seen is that he has the potential to go to the top. Celtic did very well to stay strong and hold on to him in the January transfer window and that is important.

“They should want to have him at the club for as long as possible and from what I hear he is happy where he is.

“He is very young, he has a lot of time to get better and as a striker you always have to prove yourself. It is not enough to do it over one season, you have to do it again and again – like Henrik.

“There is a long way to go for Moussa yet but he is in good hands.”

And Petrov is adamant that when and if the bid comes that entices the French under-21 striker away from Glasgow, that Celtic should be holding out for top dollar.

“Why not?” he said. “We have seen some of the crazy money that has been exchanged here in England for players. It is fair enough for Celtic to say that £30m is what they want for him.

“It is such an important model for the club to bring in players like this and develop them. And any money they do eventually get for him has to go back to the manager to make sure that Celtic keep themselves involved at Champions League level.”