Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has declared that midfielder Reo Hatate has "gone to another level" over the last four weeks.

The 25-year-old, who was awarded Scottish Premiership Player of the Month for February, scored four goals and provided one assist across all competitions recently.

He was also influential as the Hoops defeated rivals Rangers 2-1 in the League Cup final at Hampden.

And the Australian has lavished praise on the Japanese playmaker, even claiming he can go up "another couple of levels".

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:"He's had a good year. When he came in 12 months ago, fair to say he made an impact straight away, but you know we kind of knew it would be a tough sort of initiation for him because he'd come off the back of a full Japanese league season.

"In contrast, this year with the benefit of having a good preseason with us he's just been really strong and consistent all year.

"I think over the last month he's just gone to another level and I certainly believe there's there's another couple of levels in him as a footballer.

"And you know, he's enjoying it and he's making more of an impact, which is great."

READ MORE: Why Carter-Vickers outdoing Goldson won Celtic League Cup v Rangers

Meanwhile, Josip Juranovic has fired a cheeky dig at Rangers as he talked up Celtic's chances of landing a treble this season.

The former Parkhead full-back switched to the Bundesliga in January as he moved to Union Berlin.

Juranovic has since discussed his love for Celtic and his emotions as he departed Ange Postecoglou's squad.

The 27-year-old hopes his side can add to the League Cup that they won against Rangers on Sunday at Hampden and it was clear he was watching on from afar for the build-up.

Asked if Celtic could win the treble, he told Football Scotland: “I hope so, that means I can have more trophies in my back pocket!

“It's nine points in front of, how Sakala said... 'the other mob!’. At Celtic, the Scottish league is competitive, maybe not as much, but you are playing against defensive teams and you need to score.

“Sometimes it’s not that easy. Then you have the derby and you need to perform well. You also need to win the championship to get to the Champions League.

 “I watched maybe 35 minutes because I had a game against Bayern here. In my heart I knew that we – we! – would win the cup. I am still talking with my friends at Celtic. I wished them all luck and told them I would be watching them and that I was really happy that they won the first trophy, but not the last one this year.

“I am texting all the time with Joe Hart, Matt O’Reilly, Jota. Who else? Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada… I have a lot of friends there and I will keep in touch with them through their life.”