Forgotten Celtic summer signing drops transfer exit hint as winger reflects on 'tough' six months

Celtic outcast Marco Tilio has dropped a major hint that his future could be away from the club after just six months - with a potential January loan exit on the cards.

The former Melbourne City winger - a £1.5million summer recruit from the A-League outfit - arrived at the Hoops carrying an underlying injury and missed a full pre-season. The Australian international has managed just two substitute appearance and played only 27 minutes of football since joining the Hoops.

Despite his lack of game time under Brendan Rodgers, Tilio admits he has been "fully fit" for the last four months and secured a shock call-up to the Socceroos' Asian Cup squad where he will aim to showcase his talent and prove his worth to the Scottish champions.

It's understood the wide man has options to return Down Under this month, with his former club Melbourne City - where he won three domestic titles in a row - ready to take the 22-year-old back on a temporary basis after previously being billed as one of the country's biggest talents.

And with Nicolas Kuhn’s imminent arrival, Tilio could find it difficult to gain regular minutes at Parkhead. When quizzed about his future at Australia's training camp, Tilio told AAP: "Of course from the outside it's been tough. I obviously went to the club with an injury. But I've been back for four months now fully training, fully fit.

"I probably feel physically better than what I've ever been in my career. So I feel really good and I'm just raring to go, ready to play and hopefully this tournament's a chance for me to do that. I think it's only improved me as a player being in and around that (at Celtic) every day. But overall, I'd like to get more game time and whatever that looks like, we'll see what happens."

Tilio may have struggled to force his way into Rodgers' plans so far, but he is thankful to Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold for showing faith in him by including the attacker in his 26-man squad. He added: "Arnie's always about giving opportunity and throughout my career so far, he's given me a lot of opportunities. So I've just got to try to repay him and that's with performances in training and making sure I'm ready to show that I'm ready to play."