Inverness midfielder Danny Williams hopes Caley Thistle can hang on to midfielder Ryan Christie.
English Premier League club Swansea are monitoring the 20-year-old’s progress and scouts would have been impressed on Saturday as the Scotland under-21 international came off the bench to score in a 4-2 defeat by Celtic at Parkhead.
Mikael Lustig, Leigh Griffiths and a Stuart Armstrong double had given the Hoops a four-goal lead before Christie pulled one back and Spaniard Dani Lopez grabbed another.
Williams believes Christie is capable of playing at a higher level but would love to see his teammate remain at the club after the transfer window closes.
He said: “We see how good he is in training every day. I don’t know what is going to happen with Ryan but he is certainly a quality player.
“He changed the game when he came on. You could see how well he took his goal and then he set up the other one. He is a good player with a lot of quality.
“Nat Wedderburn and Dani Lopez also made an impact. When they came on we got a better hold in the game and started passing the ball more.
“The manager said before the game this is a stage and everyone wants to go on and perform. Ryan did that. He was quality when he came on and he changed the game.”
John Hughes’ players have taken only two points from their opening four matches and next host Hamilton, who defeated Dundee United 4-0 on Saturday.
Englishman Williams felt his team paid the price for their defensive frailties against Celtic and said: “We hurt ourselves at the beginning. We needed to make them work for their goals but we didn’t do that.
“We gave them more than they bargained for in the second half and we could have nicked a couple more at the end. But it wasn’t to be.
“We have a lot of players out injured but that’s no excuse. We still have 11 players who are more than capable of getting a result.
“But Parhead is the toughest place to go to in the league and it was too late before we got a hold of the game.”