On-loan Morton winger Aidan Nesbitt says that Celtic know he is in the right place to continue his development under Jim Duffy at Cappielow, after agreeing to stay at the club for the rest of the season.

After a discussion between Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers and head of youth Chris McCart, it was agreed that the young winger would be best served by extending his stay in Greenock after a successful first half of the campaign.

The 19-year-old Scotland Under-21 international has enjoyed his time at the club so far and the regular first-team football that has come with it, and he was more than happy to remain with the Championship high-flyers.

He told gmfc.net: “It’s been an ongoing thing for a few weeks now. Jim Duffy made it clear to me a few weeks ago that he wanted me to stay until the end of the season.

“He just said: ‘You don’t need to tell me anything just now. Go away, think about it and then come back to me.’ Last week, I went back and said I was happy to continue here until the end of the season.

“Obviously, I also spoke to Celtic and they are happy for me to stay as well. They send scouts to every single game, so there are always people from there watching me and Jamie Lindsay.

“Chris McCart emphasised that Morton are doing so well and that I’m playing games, and that it was a good move for me to stay until the end of the season

“Before I went out on loan I was speaking to Brendan Rodgers and he said it would likely be that I would stay here until the end of the season. I think Chris and him would’ve assessed it again recently and decided the right thing was for me to stay here.

“I spoke to Chris on the phone and he made it clear to me that Celtic were happy for me to stay here until the end of the season to continue my development.

“I’ve made 17 appearances – 11 of them have been starts – so far and in the first six months of the season, the team have done really well.

“We got to the semi-final of the League Cup and we’re sitting third in the league. And the thing is, the momentum and confidence is increasing, and that is a good thing for us to go and excel even further.

“It’s brilliant here. All the lads in the dressing room are a good bunch, and as I said, we’re doing well. So if you are playing football and you’re winning, what’s not to enjoy?”

Meanwhile, Jim Duffy was disappointed yesterday as defender Gavin Gunning left the club to sign for English League Two side Grimsby Town.

On a brighter note for the Morton manager though, young striker Jai Quitongo vowed to come back better than ever after an operation on the knee injury he picked up at East End Park back in early December went well.

According to Duffy, Quitongo was typically positive when he spoke to him yesterday, and is looking forward to getting on the road to recovery.

“I spoke to Jai last night after the surgery, just making sure he was okay,” Duffy said.

“He seems quite positive and everything seemed to go okay, but we’re not going to put any timescale on it.

“He’s just had the operation and the most important thing was getting it done. He can start the rehab pretty much immediately, and that’s all we can do besides giving him plenty of encouragement as he works hard to get back to full fitness.”