AUSSIE teenage sensation Daniel Arzani can slot straight into the Celtic first team - if he keeps on playing the street football that helped him clinch a place at Russia 2018.

That was the prediction from former Socceroos player and current Fox Sports television pundit Ned Zelic today as Arzani edged closer to a move to the Scottish champions.

The Melbourne City winger is set to join Manchester City in a £1.5 million transfer in the coming days and then be loaned out to Celtic for the next two seasons.

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The Iran-born 19-year-old only made his A-League debut back in January, but he did well enough to earn a call-up to his national team for the World Cup finals this summer.

Zelic, the former Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt and Auxerre defender, has seen a great deal of Arzani in action at both club and international level, including in the World Cup, in the last seven months.

He believes the attacking midfielder is good enough to become a regular for Brendan Rodgers - if he persists with the dribbling game that has won him so many admirers.

"I don't think he will be a long-term project for Celtic," he said. "He has blossomed into a really exciting player this year.

"He is only 19, but we have seen players perform at the highest level in Europe at that age. I don't think he needs time to adapt. I think he has shown enough already to suggest he is ready.

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"He will be playing for the best quality team in Scotland by far and will have top class team mates around about him. He is going to be able to show what he can do.

"It will be interesting to see how he copes in the Champions League, on a top European stage, if Celtic get through to the group stages, but I am sure he will relish the chance to play at that level.

"I joined Borussia Dortmund when I was 21. I had nothing to lose so I just went out and played my normal game and it worked. If Daniel can keep playing the street football he's been playing without a care in the world he can go to the next level."