Airdrie boss Ian Murray hopes Thomas Robert gets back to his best this season, after his star winger returned to training with the squad.
Robert, who turns 21 next month, burst onto the scene at New Broomfield last season and quickly attracted admirers, before heading out on a trial period with Celtic in February.
But Murray hopes he’s allowed to settle down and enjoy his football again as the Diamonds bid for the League One title.
He said: “Thomas is back with the group, we knew he would be, as he has another year on his contract.
“It’s a big season for Thomas, and I’m looking forward to seeing him play again.
“Thomas showed real quality last season, but he showed other qualities against Cove Rangers as well.
“He scored great goals against Clyde and Forfar, but in the play-offs he showed the other side of his game against Cove Rangers with his tackle in the box with a few minutes to go, and he nearly set us up for another goal.
“We know what Thomas is capable of, he’s got a year’s experience under his belt and he’s an important player for us.
“He’s had to deal with a lot of publicity, scouts have been coming to watch him, there were newspaper articles, but now he has that experience under his belt, we have to use that to the best of our advantage.
“He has ability, there’s no doubt about that, and like any young player he still has flaws in his game, so we’ll help him to eradicate them slightly and try to push him on a bit more.
“We’ll see where we are come Christmas or the end of the season.”
Murray is happy with his squad so far, although he admits there are trialists who may feature in the North Lanarkshire Cup at Broadwood this weekend.
Airdrie have brought in midfielders Scott Agnew, Adam Frizzell and Rhys McCabe, defenders Craig Watson, Rico Quitongo and Sam Wardrop, and strikers Jordan Allan and Dylan Easton and goalkeeper Jay Cantley.
And Murray said: “I think like most clubs we’re still looking for players, there are still things going on, and there are people in certain areas that we want to sign.
“But on the flip side of that we’re very happy with our squad at the moment.
“The boys have come back in good condition, the new players have came in and been excellent in the last seven days.
“It took us a few days to get going again, like it normally does, but we’ve started to see guys making the step up already, which is brilliant.”
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