Celtic and Ireland defender Darren O'Dea admits he may leave Celtic if he cannot maintain his first-team spot.
The 22-year-old, who scored Celtic's opener in Sunday's Co-operative Insurance Cup final win over Rangers, almost joined Burnley in January.
"I'd rather be playing somewhere else than not playing at all," he told BBC Radio Scotland.
"But in an ideal world I'd be at Celtic playing week in, week out and playing in the Champions League every year."
Normally a central defender, O'Dea has featured at left-back in recent matches and his performances have earned him a call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad.
"At the moment, I've managed to put a few games together and hopefully I can stay in the team," he added.
"If I was to play with Celtic week in, week out, I don't see any other club where I'd rather be.
"I've got the shirt and I'm lucky enough to have it so I'll be doing everything in my power to keep it and I'm not thinking about anything else but playing at the moment."
O'Dea insists his desire to pursue a proposed loan move to Turf Moor was purely motivated by the need to be playing regularly.
"At the time I was probably the most desperate man in the planet to get out of the club to be honest and it was literally just a footballing thing," said O'Dea. "I needed to play. Of course, I want to play international football, it's a massive thing but my club football needs to be right"
"But if I ever had a thought that I'd be playing games now with Celtic, there is nowhere else I'd rather be so as luck was, I stayed and I'm delighted I did now."
The signing of Glenn Loovens last summer further restricted O'Dea's first-team chances with captain Stephen McManus usually partnered in central defence by Gary Caldwell.
"I don't think you'll ever play for Celtic or a big team just because there's no-one else there," added O'Dea.
"There's always going to be top players ahead of you and behind you so it's a case of just me being good enough, rather than hoping someone else isn't good enough.
"You always have to expect players to be coming in and out at a club like Celtic."
Ireland take on Bulgaria in a World Cup qualifier at the end of March and Under-21 international O'Dea is eager to further establish himself at club level in order to work his way into Giovanni Trapattoni's side.
He said: "Of course, I want to play international football, it's a massive thing but my club football needs to be right.
"Just now, it's a lot better than it was a few weeks ago but I'm not taking anything for granted. I need to keep playing well and the international football will take care of itself.
"Our manager just now is a top manager so I can only learn from him."
Extra-time goals by Ireland internationals Darren O'Dea and Aiden McGeady gave Celtic a deserved Co-operative Insurance Cup final victory over rivals Rangers at Hampden Park this afternoon
After 90 tense but mediocre minutes had failed to produce a goal, the game moved in to extra-time and just a minute after the restart Dublin born O'Dea, who had not scored since Celtic beat Livingston in February 2007, leapt to head a Nakamura free-kick past Allan McGregor.
In the third minute of added time at the end, Rangers defender Kirk Broadfoot was red-carded by referee Dougie McDonald for denying McGeady a clear goalscoring opportunity and the Ireland international winger scored from the spot.
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan had sprung a surprise by giving a first Old Firm start to Loovens, with Gary Caldwell moving forward into midfield and misfiring strikers Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras being left on the bench.
It looked like it was going to be a midfield war of attrition, with Rangers playing just Kenny Miller up front as Kris Boyd was left on the bench as expected.
Even without their moody top scorer, it was Rangers who started the brighter and Sasa Papac got in behind the Celtic defence only to be ruled offside.
But Celtic settled and began to take control to put increasing pressure on a Rangers side denied the speedy presence of in-form Madjid Bougherra, who failed a fitness test.
It took extra-time however before the two Scottish rivals could be seperated and the Irish delivered an early St. Patrick's day present to Gordon Strachan and the ten of thousand of hoops fans in Hampden Park today.
Ireland winger Aidan McGeady is enjoying life under Giovanni Trapattoni and has spoken of how he is given much more freedom on the pitch to move off the wing and challenge for possession in central midfield areas. This is in contrast to the rigid set-up he plays under at Celtic with Gordon Strachan.
"I've really enjoyed working under him," the Celtic and Ireland winger said.
"He wants everybody to work hard on the defensive side of the game but I wouldn't say that he was defensive-minded. He wants you to be progressive and encourages me to drift into little pockets of space."
"At Celtic I play out wide - and am told to stay out there - but with Ireland, Trapattoni wants me to come inside."
"It's not a playmaker role, but if I haven't seen much of the ball during the game he encourages me to come inside and try and pick up possession infield. He sees me doing more damage in the middle."
McGeady's creativity will once again be employed in this fluid role when Georgia arrive at Croke Park on Wednesday, for a match critical to both sides' hopes.
The visitors, beaten 2-1 in the corresponding fixture back in September, need a win to revive their faint hopes of qualification, while Trapattoni believes the psychological importance of victory means the game is also a must-win for his Irish team.
There will always be battles, disagreements & personality clashes within any team set-up and Strachan has had his fair share of those over the last three years at Celtic, for example when he got rid of the nucleus of the O’Neill team, Chris Sutton, Petrov, Alan Thompson etc….
But the McGeady episode feels different, it feels personal rather than team related. Sutton, Thompson etc.. were all senior, mature players who had a strong influence within the dressing room and Strachan felt he had to make changes to take control of the dressing room and mould his own team, which is perfectly understandable.
I just don’t get why he seems to have a real dislike for the young player. Even last season, when McGeady had a terrific year and won almost every player of the year award available in Scotland, Strachan was always lukewarm in his praise for McGeady, and while he certainly recognised his ability, he was never animated in his conversations regarding his player.
Although, he was open enough in a BBC interview, prior to his appointment as Celtic boss, when he called McGeady a “traitor” and said he should be “hung, drawn and quartered” over his decision to represent Ireland rather than Scotland.
The poor McGeady/Strachan relationship has bubbled away over the last three years and it it’s said that Tommy Burns was the ‘referee’ who stopped it boiling over during that time and perhaps the sad passing of Tommy Burns has simply allowed Strachan the chance to force McGeady’s hand. Although perhaps it is only now that Strachan feels he has enough control to engineer the end of McGeady’s time at Celtic Park.
McGeady was obviously wrong to shout abuse at the manager after the Hearts game, even if he did feel he was being unfairly singled out (as was the case earlier in the season, when Strachan banned him from the room during the post match talk after the Rangers defeat).
To be honest, I don’t really care if Celtic win,lose or draw every week and I am more concerned that Irish players are playing regularly, progressing and thus improving our chances on the international stage, and for McGeady, just like Darren O’Dea, their international prospects would be better served, if they are far away from Parkhead.
I don’t think McGeady will ever be a superstar, but at 22 and with a wealth of experience behind him, the right team and manager could mould him into a very important player for Ireland in the future.
