Chris Sutton has delivered a scathing assessment of Nicolas Kuhn’s recent form and attitude, suggesting the Celtic winger would be fortunate to attract interest from a club like Sunderland if his performances don’t pick up.

The former Celtic striker, writing in his Daily Record column, wrote about a concerning drop in Kuhn’s commitment and output since the turn of the year. Kuhn had initially shown signs of real promise in the opening months of the season, even drawing reported interest from Premier League sides like Newcastle United and Brentford. But Sutton believes that form has nosedived due to a lack of effort, and wasn’t shy to question the player’s mentality.

 “You’re waiting for Celtic to go back up through the gears (after recent bad form) – but they can’t just assume it will happen.

“That’s what seems to be going on with Nicolas Kuhn. You don’t want to single out players but there has been a huge drop off with the German.

“It smacks to me as an attitude thing. He looks like a player who thought he’d cracked it and everything would just fall into place for him.

“But you need to put in the word and we haven’t seen enough of it lately. Back in December there was talk about Newcastle United considering a bid and it was by no means a stretch of the imagination.

“He’d be lucky if Sunderland came in for him on recent form. You can bet teams like Newcastle would have been watching him back then.”

Kuhn, who was once in contention for player of the season honours during a strong first half of the campaign, now faces a fight to reclaim his spot and his form – with Sutton’s warning ringing loud as the title run-in intensifies.

He was substituted at halftime on Sunday, with Celtic 1-0 down. Brendan Rodgers made it clear that he wasn’t scared to make changes to his team to replace a lack of effort and poor mentality.

Saturday’s fixture could be telling. Any changes Rodgers makes will hint at who he believes isn’t pulling their weight.