Stephen Welsh spoke of the “perfect scenario” after signing a new four-year contract that will see him remain at Celtic until at least the summer of 2025.

The 21-year-old defender is a product of the Parkhead club’s youth academy and has been at Celtic for over a decade.

Welsh made his first-team debut last season in a 4-1 Premiership win at Hamilton in February 2020 but has established himself as a regular in recent months and has made 16 appearances so far this season as he looks forward to the Scottish Cup fourth-round clash with Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday.

“I’m delighted to get it done and I’m here for another four years which is the perfect scenario for me,” he told Celtic TV.

“This season has of course been disappointing for the team and for the club, but I’ve been getting a consistent run of regular games since the Christmas period there.

“For me, it’s just about keeping that up, keep doing it, keep playing well, hopefully until the end of the season.

“I’ve not played a lot of games, I think it’s maybe when you’ve played 50 or 100 games like the other boys that have come through the academy have done, that’s when you start to prove yourself.

“It’s about making that form consistent, doing well, working hard at training, and getting your chance.

“That’s what it’s about, and being a bit lucky as well. Hopefully that all comes together.”

Welsh believes the 6-0 thrashing of Livingston in the Premiership on Saturday sets Celtic up for the Old Firm match where the holders will look to take another step towards retaining the trophy they have won for a record four successive seasons.

He said: “We’ve played well in the last few weeks, but the goals just haven’t been there.

“The performance and the chances we created against Livingston were very good and hopefully we can take that into the weekend now.

“Between now and the end of the season we’ve got the Scottish Cup to play and a massive game at the weekend, so we’ll be looking at that first.

“We want to go and win all of our games against the other top five teams in the league, and if we can put a decent run of games in between now and the end of the season that’ll be good going into pre-season.”