It took a full and frank exchange of views to rejuvenate Nir Bitton’s Celtic career. The Israeli midfielder has emerged as one of Ronny Deila’s key players this season. A likely candidate for a lucrative future transfer. Yet the penny took time to drop. Omitted from the Celtic manager’s early first-team squads, a conversation between the pair became unavoidable. Israeli midfielder Nir Bitton has become a key player for Celtic after struggling to adapt at first . The Norwegian talked. Bitton listened. Crucially, he also learned what it would take to salvage his Celtic career. ‘I prefer the conversation between me and the gaffer to stay between me and him,’ said Bitton. ‘But at the beginning of the season there were a couple of things I didn’t understand in terms of what he expected from me. ‘Sometimes you need a conversation with the gaffer to understand what he wants from you. To understand what he expects from you as a player and a professional.’ Bitton needed a conversation with manager Ronny Deila before the penny finally dropped for him . The temptation for any player out of the team is to blame the coach but Deila told Bitton to look a little closer to home. Speaking in recent weeks, the Celtic boss said: ‘If you put everything on the coach then you are lost, you are finished. ‘You have to go into yourself and ask “Why am I not playing? Why is that guy in front of me?” and when you find that out you have to think “OK, what do I do to get better?” ‘It’s not the other way around, that the coach gives you a chance and then you play well. ‘You have to show in training that you are good enough and then you get your chance, and Nir has done that.’ Pushed on the issue, Bitton will plead guilty on all counts. ‘Of course I had to look at myself,’ he admitted. ‘When you don’t play the first thing you say is: “It’s the gaffer.” 'That’s what everybody says. ‘But after you go home you think honestly: “OK, what am I doing wrong?” ‘I understood that I needed to change myself, that I needed to improve. It’s difficult sometimes to be honest if you have the wrong attitude. But if you want success you must change to do things the way the gaffer wants. ‘I said to myself, if I don’t change I will find myself out of this club. ‘It’s not easy when you are not playing so you need to have a good attitude and a strong mentality — you need to show the gaffer you want to change.’ Bitton is keen to play in the Scottish League Cup final this weekend, but is struggling with injury . In his first season there were glimpses of promise, yet he admits the culture shift and weather were difficult to negotiate. ‘This is one of the reasons it was hard last season. In Israel, 80 per cent of the days are 24 or 25 degrees. Then you come to Scotland and... it’s not quite the same.’ His wife is in Glasgow now and, with regular games, he has adapted to Scottish football to a point where Charlie Mulgrew faces a battle to resume his midfield partnership with Scott Brown. Learning to press and harry was one of the aspects he had to improve, conceding: ‘The gaffer wants to play a certain way. ‘Before I thought, “OK, I’m a good player, I don’t need to change everything. If the gaffer wants me to play he will, if not I will sit on the bench, I don’t care”, stuff like that. ‘But everyone wants to play. You can train 10 times a day but it’s not the same.’ The midfielder has had some swelling on his ankle, after suffering an injury against Dundee United last week . With the inhospitable climate and culture the Israeli admits he could have returned home. Or tried his fortunes elsewhere. ‘The easiest thing would be to not care and just go back to Israel and not want to be here any more,’ he added. ‘But that’s not me. I just want to show everyone I deserve to play.’ The battle ahead of Sunday’s League Cup Final is of a different kind. Bitton suffered ankle swelling against Dundee United in the Scottish Cup last weekend and is fighting to prove his fitness for Hampden. ‘I still have another four days. We will see. ‘At the end of the day I will take the final decision. ‘If I feel I can play and help the team I will play. ‘If I feel I can play but not at 100 per cent I will take the decision to protect it for the next games. But we have four more days before the game and that’s a long time. I hope I will be fine.’ Bitton has admitted that it took some time to adapt to life - and the weather - in Scotland . The opportunity to win his first domestic trophy at the national stadium as a Celtic player beckons. Yet he is adamant he won’t put his own interests before those of the team adding: ‘I have to be honest with my team-mates. If somebody cannot give 100 per cent for the team there is no reason he should play. ‘If I can give 100 per cent I will play. If not I will be ready for the next games.’ Sunday marks the first step towards a Treble Deila has very publicly and vocally targeted. The norm is to talk down domestic clean sweeps to lessen expectations, yet Bitton accepts that — whatever people say in the public domain — the onus is on Celtic to win everything. ‘Of course it’s hard. ‘Everybody just expects us to win all the titles. But everybody saw the game on Sunday and it will be very difficult for us. ‘We all need to do our jobs as well as we can. But we don’t think about what they say outside the club, we just need to play our game. If we do we can do it.’
Israeli midfielder struggled after moving to Scotland this season . Nir Bitton failed to make Ronny Deila's first team at first . But after frank discussion with manager Bitton went away to change game . Young midfielder is now a first team regular for Celtic .