Scott Sinclair: Celtic winger 'back in love with football again'

Scott Sinclair says he has rediscovered his "love" of football at Celtic.

The English winger, 27, has scored 18 goals this season after frustrating spells at Aston Villa and West Brom.

"It's so difficult when you have two or three games out and then you're in for three," said Sinclair, who joined Celtic from Villa in August.

"It's stability of game time, and I've had that. You can see on the pitch that I'm happy, I'm scoring goals and we're winning games."

England Under-21 cap Sinclair, who featured for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics, retains ambitions to be capped at senior level by his country and sees Champions League participation as key to his chances.

"My main thing was to enjoy my football and be playing every week, getting the love of the game back, which I definitely have," he said.

Sinclair has tipped team-mate Moussa Dembele (left) for a France call-up

"I'm always going to be looking to break the 20-goal mark now.

"For the past couple of years, my form hasn't been there and I've not been playing every week. Now I can show my qualities.

"It comes down to playing every week and enjoying my football. The number one thing is having a manager who believes in you. It's great that I have a manager like that [at Celtic in Brendan Rodgers] and I can perform under him."

On his England chances, Sinclair added: "I haven't given up on it. The best opportunity for me is if I'm playing Champions League football.

"Hopefully, we qualify for the group stages and maybe one day it comes."

Celtic, who featured in this season's Champions League group stage, are one victory away from winning the Scottish Premiership.

And Sinclair believes it is only a matter of time before his club-mate Moussa Dembele, 20, receives a call-up to the France senior squad, with the under-21 cap having scored 32 goals this season.

"His time will come," Sinclair added. "He's a young, quality player.

"He has the attributes and the potential to be as good as any player I've played with. It's up to him how far he wants to take it. He looks like he wants to do well and he just needs to keep performing."