Scotland manager Craig Brown says he rated Celtic midfielder Ryan Christie far more highly than James Maddison when the pair were on loan together at Aberdeen.

The Leicester midfielder is reportedly an £80m target for Manchester United in the January transfer window but Brown believes Christie is more than a match for his English counterpart:

“Maddison went for around £20m to Leicester City and now he’s in the England squad. But when Ryan was at Aberdeen, my feeling was that he was the better of the two players.”

“The performances he gave us at Aberdeen were excellent. It was a good bit of initiative by (manager) Derek McInnes to get him to the club on loan and he did a wonderful job for us.”

“So it’s no surprise how well he’s doing at Celtic now. Ryan can be a big help for Scotland and can become a key player. Ryan has been outstanding at Celtic.”

Christie has started this season in fantastic form, having scored eight goals and provided five assists in 12 appearances. Tom Rogic will have a battle on his hands if he wants his place back in the starting eleven.

With his excellent performances, Christie is certainly deserving of a regular starting place in Scotland’s midfield as well. He was injured when Steve Clarke picked his first squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers back in June.

Now back fit, he has been recalled and will likely play against Russia at Hampden Park this evening as well as against Belgium on Monday night.