New Celtic arrival Nick Kuhn is placing his friendship with Rangers striker Danilo on hold after making the move to Glasgow, with the best pals now on either side of the city’s footballing divide.

Kuhn and Danilo played together for the Ajax second string earlier in their career, where they would often socialise together away from football, and they remain close to this day.

Kuhn joked that may all have to change now though, having never imagined that the pair would one day end up representing either side of such a famously bitter rivalry.

“Actually, he was my best friend at Ajax,” Kuhn said.

“We are always in contact. I didn’t speak to him before I came here, but he texted me.

“He would sleep at my place, and I would sleep at his place. We were really good friends.

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“There was a group of about three, four or five of us who always did things together, like go to the city or go out to eat something. We saw each other every day, playing X-box and that kind of thing.

“I think I will keep him a little bit away from me! I have some teammates that I have met already and hopefully they can show me around.

“The club are really professional and there a lot of people who want to help you to settle down, so I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

While Kuhn is perhaps going to keep his friend at arm’s length while they are both in Glasgow, he is hoping that the Ibrox striker can recover quickly from his latest injury setback, having undergone knee surgery in December.

“Of course, we have stayed in touch, and I knew about his injury before I knew about any interest from Celtic,” he said.

“I talked with him and wished him a speedy recovery because that’s something that can happen but I would wish it on nobody. I hope he’s going to be fit.”

The next meeting between the sides in April may even come too early for Danilo as he continues his long rehab process, but the Ibrox pitch would be one place at least that Kuhn would be happy to see his old friend.

“I told him already, ‘I’ll see you soon!’,” he said.

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“That’s what we talked about. Of course, I’m looking forward to these games and my manager [agent and former Rangers midfielder Christian Nerlinger] told me also a lot about it.

“He told me it’s a special atmosphere so I can’t wait to see it for myself.

“He also said his time in Scotland was the best time of his football career even though he had some injuries. He really liked the people and he loved to play here.”