Mohamed Elyounoussi will not make a call on his long-term future until the end of the season. The Celtic forward, with 17 goals this term, has been second only to Odsonne Edouard in terms of his attacking potency for the club, with a growing appreciation of what he has brought across two loan spells. 

With a substantial rebuilding project expected to take place this summer as the club bring in a new manager and various personnel, it remains to be seen if there is a significant push to keep the Norwegian internationalist at the club on a permanent deal.

Parent club Southampton signed the player on a £16m deal from Basel in 2018 but the player has made just 19 appearances for the English side.
“I will give you my honest answer on that. I haven’t thought much about what my future is going to be,” said the 26-year-old. 

“We still have a few games left to play this season and my main focus is here on Celtic.  

“I want to do my best for the club and then after the season ends, I will have a think about what I’m going to do and what is best for my own career.” 

Certainly, interim manager John Kennedy would be keen for the club to keep hold of the player. It remains to be seen what role, if any, Kennedy might have beyond the end of the current season but he would be happy to endorse Elyounoussi to any new manager. 

“I think he’s the calibre of player you want to try to attract to your club.” Said Kennedy. “Knowing the quality he’s got and when you’ve worked with a player you get to see them up close and what you really like.

“His character and his levels in terms of training, he’s first-class in everything he does. He’s one of the best professionals I’ve worked with. He really looks after his body, he commits to training and every drill you do each day. When he’s on form he’s a very good player. We’ll have to address that in the summer if it’s a possibility – and if it is a possibility I’m pretty sure the club will look closely at that.” 

Meanwhile, Elyounoussi concurred with John Kennedy’s assertion that Celtic have the best team in the country but is well aware that it needs to be backed up by whatever happens on the pitch.

“I love the confidence the he [John] has in us and I feel the same way,” he said. “But at the same time, we need to make sure we do our talking with out feet out on the pitch. 

“That is the most important thing for Sunday. Every game is a big game and this one is a great one to be a part of so I’m looking forward to it.  

“It’s important to win the trophy, in recent games against Rangers we have been the better team.  

“In the end it comes down to what we do out on the pitch, we need to make sure we win it. It may be like any other game but in the back of our minds it’s about the cup and the trophy.”

There is weight attached to the game other than just the Cup that is at stake.   A Celtic win would deny Rangers the chance of a domestic double but would also enable them to halt Rangers’ dominance domestically and set them up for next season as they seek to recover from the trauma of this campaign.  

“Both myself and the team are going into this game with a high degree of confidence, especially after the last game against Livingston,” said Elyounoussi. “We have been working hard and the training this week has been superb. 

“You could see a result like the one we had at Livingston was coming, you could see it over the last few games. You could see it during the training sessions we had and the only thing which was missing was taking our chances in front of goal. 

“We had been creating a lot of chances but we couldn’t finish them off. Things weren’t going our way in front of goal but we knew that would change sooner rather than later.  

“It changed against Livingston, not only were we good in front of our opponents goal, but we were good in front of our own.  

“We need to try and maintain that on Sunday. We need to create the chances and be ruthless. We also need to stop them from having chances against us. It’s all about what’s going to happen in the two boxes. 

“We go into Sunday’s game as we would for any other game. That has always been the mentality at Celtic but this is obviously a cup game and it’s all to play for. 

“That makes it more interesting and valuable but we will go into it as we would any other. That means we will do our best and try to win the game.”