"He moves the whole team 40 or 50 yards up the field with his surging runs. To have that in your team is beautiful," said McDonald.

"If he can now start to add goals to his all-round game, then I think all sorts of big clubs will start taking an interest in him. To be honest, they probably already are.

"But if he starts to score more goals then his price tag will just keep going up and up. He will certainly cost too much for most clubs."

There is little prospect of Celtic letting their prize asset, who is contracted until 2011, leave in the near future no matter what offer is tabled.