Moussa Dembele, inevitably, took the headlines this week but I would have to say that Scott Brown is by far the most influential player in the Celtic dressing room.

It would perhaps surprise a few people if they understood the full weight of influence that the Hoops skipper has at Lennoxtown. Brown is a captain who is well respected in his own dressing room and I know full well that a lot of the young lads like Kieran Tierney really take a lot of advice from him.

What has been clear over the early months of this season is just how much trust there is between Brendan Rodgers and Brown.

That relationship was cemented when the new manager invited his skipper to his pad in London to share a meal and talk football over a bottle of wine.

Frankly, I have to say that while big Billy [McNeill] had a very close bond with Jock Stein, I cannot imagine any of us chinwagging in his living room over a bottle of red.

But this is the modern day game and Rodgers and Brown clearly understood one another pretty clearly that night. What you see now from Brown is a player who is the lieutenant on the pitch and he ticks all the boxes from what Rodgers is looking for in his captain.

Brown has played consistently well this season but it has not come as a real surprise, I don’t think.

It was very apparent last season that he came back into the team when he was not entirely fit in order to try and galvanise those around him and help them get over the line in the league.

He carried the tendonitis throughout the campaign and what you are seeing now is a player who is injury free and back to being influential.

All you have to do is compare both recent games against Rangers; look at the semi-final last April at Hampden and how Brown struggled to the way he played in the 5-1 game at Celtic Park. That is a captain’s performance.

And while much comes down to the fact that there appears to be a real respect between Brown and Rodgers it also helps that he is fully fit.

This weekend signals the beginning of a two-week league hiatus for the international calendar and Brown’s decision to bow out at that level is one, I think, that he made believing it would in some way benefit both Celtic and Scotland.

He is an intense player and when you are playing at that level every week then it does take a toll. I reckon that he might have felt that by trying to sustain it at both domestic and international level he could end up with neither getting the best of him.

And while we were all talking about Dembele’s performance against Manchester City this week, you also saw Brown have a pop at the 20-year-old striker for his part in City’s second goal.

That is part and parcel of football and whatever was then said between them in the dressing room clearly worked because within minutes Dembele had scored Celtic’s third.

His influence on those around him is quite clear to see.

As for Dembele, it is fair to say that the youngster is a guy that we all anticipate will go on and play at the very top level.

If he continues to score and perform at this level then there will inevitably be a wealth of interest from other clubs but I don’t think either the player or Celtic have to go rushing into anything.

So long as Celtic can give a Champions league platform then they have a carrot for showcasing talent at the very highest level – while also bringing in the kind of resources that keep their best players.

So while we would all accept that Dembele could become the next player who attracts a hugely significant financial fee for Celtic, it doesn’t need to be any time soon.

The striker seems to understand that he has an opportunity to make a name for himself here and Celtic do not need to cash in him.

Dembele comes across as an extremely strong-willed guy and I have to say that at this level that is important too. He seems to have all the attributes to play at the very top level and he has been a fabulous addition to the Celtic squad this summer.

He has brought goals, something that the club were not short on last season but were perhaps over-reliant on Leigh Griffiths for.

Now there are goals all over the pitch. And while I think that Dembele, in my opinion, is a cracking all-round striker that is not to take anything away from Griffiths either.

His goals alone make him a top forward and the competition for places is something that can inspire the best in everyone. There will surely, too, be games domestically where they is a place for both strikers to play alongside one another. Griffiths is an instinctive finisher who will always be capable of getting you goals.

I do think that over the course of time Dembele is capable of going on to prove that he can perform at the very top level in the game.