CHRISTOPHER JULLIEN has come on leaps and bounds for Celtic in the last few weeks, and I don’t think that an international call-up for France will be beyond him if he keeps up this level of performance.

He reiterated his international ambitions during the week, and it’s incredible to think he would be one of the only senior players still at Lennoxtown this week.

The fact that he is French, of course, and trying to break into a World Cup winning side plays a major part in that, but I think that playing for Celtic can really aid his cause of catching the eye of France’s head coach Didier Deschamps.

It certainly didn’t do Dedryck Boyata any harm, who proved that playing in perhaps one of the less fashionable leagues is no obstacle to playing for one of the world’s best international sides when he broke into the Belgium team while at Celtic. They are ranked number one in the world, so it is a fair comparison.

When he was at Toulouse, who are perhaps one of the more unfashionable sides in France, he may have gone under the radar somewhat. But coming to Celtic, where they are giving him a platform to perform in the Europa League and where they are doing very well, it really puts him in the spotlight.

The profile of a Celtic and Rangers game too brings attention to him, and people abroad follow those matches closely. There would have been many in France who were paying attention to his performance at Ibrox for example, which I think was the making of him as a Celtic player, and seeing how well he coped with the intensity and pressure of the fixture that day.

If he carries on playing like he did in Rome against Lazio, he will definitely be attracting attention from Deschamps and the French national side.

Fair play to him, because he was a little bit of a slow burner when he first arrived at Celtic. Sometimes when you arrive during a pre-season, and particularly when you are coming into a new environment altogether, you are playing catch-up a little bit.

He wasn’t included right away, remember, and even sat out of the defeat to Cluj. He also had a bad day against Livingston up against big Lyndon Dykes, but now that he is up to speed and has acclimatised to his new surroundings, he looks worth every penny of the £7m Celtic paid for him and then some.

The defensive triumvirate of Jullien, Kristoffer Ajer and most importantly in my view, Fraser Forster, have been the bedrock upon which Celtic’s success of late has been built.

Yes, you can tinker with the full-back areas, with Boli Bolingoli, Jonny Hayes and Greg Taylor fighting it out at left-back, while Hatem Elhamed, Moritz Bauer and Jeremie Frimpong can rotate on the right, but that settled three in the middle are among the first names on the teamsheet for me.

Those three are a big part of why Celtic are doing so well, and the same argument that applies to Jullien forcing his way into the French national side applies to Forster with England.

The keeper has revitalised his career since coming back to Scotland, so why can’t he force his way back into Gareth Southgate’s thinking?

With Ajer already embedded into the Norwegian national side, it just goes to show how strong an area of the team it is, and it is a big part of the reason why Celtic are doing so well in Europe at the minute, especially away from home.

These guys are just the latest examples of what coming to Celtic can do for a player’s career. Ok, fans will want their star players to stay forever, but realistically, the platform that Celtic are giving these guys and many others before them acts as a real feather in the cap of the club when they are trying to attract players to Scotland.

Ok, it might not be the most glamorous league, but Celtic are a glamorous club. Not only are Celtic adept at developing players and getting the best out of them, they offer exposure to massive games in front of massive crowds, big European nights, and they have a strong track record of eventually moving players on to big clubs in bigger leagues.

Jullien is the latest to blossom.