Neil Lennon has told Greg Taylor he needs to remain patient and use Ryan Christie as inspiration to break into the Celtic team.
The defender joined from Kilmarnock in the summer but has struggled for regular action and played just five times for the Hoops.
Jonny Hayes has been used as a left back ahead of him and many have been baffled by Taylor's continued absence, particularly while he continues to earn Scotland call-ups.
But Lennon says he needs to improve on his play and stay calm as he promised his time will come.
It took Christie more than three years to become a regular at Celtic Park while Tom Rogic was also farmed out on loan before breaking into the team.
When asked what Taylor needs to do, Lennon said: "He’s training well, he just needs to be patient. He needs to take an example of a Tom Rogic or Ryan Christie, he’s here for a long time, it’s not just over a short term period we’re looking at him long term.
"He needs to keep working away, he’s only 21 physically and with his game, his defensive side of his game is pretty good and his attacking side needs a bit of work.
"We’ve had those discussion and he’s anxious to play and I get that. At the same time, he’s working and training with these guys every day and that’s going to make him better."
Lennon is also looking to bring in some new signings in January with a striker expected to be their main target.
Andraz Sporar and Tyrese Campbell are among those linked but Lennon also revealed there's likely to exits.
He added: "In a couple of areas. Not looking to bring in a huge volume of players in, maybe need to trim things as well.
"I’ve also got to respect the players who haven’t played that much who maybe want to go and play regular first team football but we’ll discuss that when the round of games is over.
"We are looking in one or two areas to see if we can bring one or two quality players in."
