Nadir Ciftci looks for fresh Celtic start under Brendan Rodgers

Ciftci was on target in the first friendly match of the new Brendan Rodgers era at Celtic

Nadir Ciftci aims to show manager Brendan Rodgers that he has a long-term future with Celtic.

Ciftci scored in Rodgers' first pre-season friendly match, a 2-2 draw with Celje in Slovenia on Thursday.

The 24-year-old striker spent the second half of last season on loan at Turkish side Eskisehirspor.

"It's good to be back and I'm very happy to work with a big manager like this again and hopefully be part of things for the future," he said.

The Scottish champions paid Dundee United £1.5m to sign Ciftci last summer.

He scored four goals in 12 games before switching to Eskisehirspor in January, netting another four goals in the Turkish top flight.

Rodgers has allowed fellow strikers Colin Kazim-Richards, Carlton Cole, Anthony Stokes and Stefan Scepovic to move on but Ciftci, who has three years to run on his contract, has been offered the chance to prove himself.

'Good attitude'

"It's been almost two weeks that we've been working and it's been very good with the new manager," he told Celtic TV.

"Everything's new and it's been very positive on the training ground and we worked hard in the game as well."

Rodgers changed all 11 players at half-time against Celje, with Stuart Armstrong setting up the goals for Ciftci and Tom Rogic in the second 45 minutes.

"It's always good to get a goal but the most important thing is to get the fitness back, to do the right things that the manager asks on the pitch," added Ciftci.

"To get a goal was great but we were 2-0 down at the time and it was a really good attitude from the boys to get back to 2-2."

Rodgers was impressed by the Turk, describing the striker's performance as "excellent".

"I thought he held the ball up really well, he pressed the ball and we ask our strikers to have that ability to press the game and the goalkeeper and I thought he was very good," he said.

"He brought others in and obviously it was good positioning to score his goal."