Celtic's Nir Bitton is back and ready to fight for his place

Nir Bitton returns for the Hoops after months of rehabilitation

Celtic midfielder Nir Bitton says he has put his injury problems behind him and is ready to fight for his place in Brendan Rodgers' first team.

A knee injury which required surgery sidelined the Israeli midfielder and he has been out of action for the Hoops since February last year.

However, the 27-year-old has finally returned to training after months of intense rehabilitation, and is ready to help Celtic as they chase a domestic triple-treble.

The Hoops are away on a winter training camp in Dubai and Bitton is looking forward to working on his fitness with the rest of the squad.

"It's tough staying positive, especially when you get a long-term injury," Bitton told the Celtic View.

"Sometimes people don't understand, sometimes people take the simple things in life for granted.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will welcome Bitton back to the fold

"It was only after getting this injury that I realised I need to appreciate every single minute on the training pitch, every single minute on the pitch, because in one moment you can lose everything, and you can do nothing about it.

"From here, I'll put the injury behind me, and my main focus is to get back to full fitness now, have a good time in Dubai with the team, to get back into shape, get some thorough training sessions in.

"After the winter break, I'll keep pushing, keep training hard, and hopefully I'll get some game time, and hopefully we'll win some more trophies this season."