Rab Douglas has tipped Scott Bain to push Dorus de Vries for the number one shirt at Celtic Park, after the Hoops pushed through a last-minute deal for the keeper.

The 26-year-old has signed with Brendan Rodgers’ side on a loan deal until the end of the season after the Parkhead side needed a back-up following the injury to Craig Gordon last weekend.

The Hoops also finally got Jack Hendry from Dundee at the very last minute in a deal that is believed to be worth around £1.5m to the Dens Park club.

And while Bain is expected to be brought in as an understudy, former Celtic keeper Douglas fully expects the goalkeeper to be targeting the number one shirt.

“No goalkeeper thinks they are signing to go and sit on a bench,” he said. “I am fully confident that Scott himself will go in there believing that he can force his way into the side. Everybody does. You sign for a club then you go out to prove that there is a reason you are there.

“And I know Scott. He is a confident lad anyway. He won’t be fazed by it at all. My only hope for him is that he gets in and gets a game quite quickly because I think you need that. It allows you to get a feel of it all.”

Rodgers has a particular way that he wants his goalkeepers to play, something that he stressed again this week when speaking of the importance of getting a stopper in who was comfortable with the ball at his feet.

And Douglas believes that Bain will fit into that without too much fuss.

“Scott is only 26,” he said. “A lot of goalkeeper’s coaches have been keen on goalies playing with their feet for a while. But I honestly think he will cope with it. He is a lad who is fit, he is in good shape physically even though he hasn’t been playing too much recently but he has a bit of everything for me as a keeper.

“He is good playing the ball out with his feet, his distribution is good, he is a good short-stopper and he comes out when he needs to. I wish him the best of luck. It is a big club and it is a big challenge but he is not short on confidence.”

That itself is an attribute that Douglas reflects will stand Bain in good stead as he goes into the pressurised environment at Celtic.

“I look back on my own time and although my confidence increased the longer I was there and playing, I do think it would have helped if I had had a wee bit more just at the start of my Celtic career.

“I do think it is important to have that.

“Big clubs have big personalities and big pressures and you need to be able to cope with that. It is a change but it is an amazing chance for Scott.

“It is incredible – one minute he is bombed out at Dundee after falling out with the manager and the next he is being signed by the top team in the country. It is strange the way that football can shift and turn and you just never know what might happen.

“All it will take is an injury to de Vries and he could find himself right in there. That is certainly what he’ll be thinking today and he’ll be confident that he can take his chance, that’s for sure.”