Former Premier League striker and England international Kevin Phillips has heaped unlikely praise on Celtic for their scouting network.

Speaking to Football Insider, the former player turned pundit was amazed by how many Celtic players go on to great things after having a spell at the club.

Virgil van Dijk the ultimate example of this while Moussa Dembele also showing what he can do and is likely to win a bigger move from Lyon in the summer.

Celtic have Odsonne Edouard who is now attracting interest from some big hitters and Phillips has applauded the scouting network for unearthing these players.

“It’s amazing how many players play for Celtic that go on to great things. Where do they unearth these players from?

“It’s just incredible, they’ve obviously got a great scouting network and their recruitment department must be very, very good.”

Celtic fans have bemoaned their scouting system in recent times and rightly so. For every Virgil van Dijk there are five or six guys who just don’t cut the mustard.

We’re still recovering from Lee Congerton’s disastrous spell at the club where the Englishman was hopeless at bringing in talent. We relied on Brendan Rodgers coaching ability to get the best out of many players we already had on the books.