Cast your collective minds back to the 60th minute of yesterday’s Scottish League Cup match versus Falkirk at Celtic Park.

The hosts were clearly struggling after falling behind 2-1 to John McGlynn’s battling Bairns - Brendan Rodgers knew that changes had to be made, especially on both wings. Starting Luis Palma and James Forrest for this one, both wide-men struggled to make any sort of positive impact on proceedings whatsoever, with both hooked at the hour mark of the match. 

Despite Yang Hyun-jun’s eye-opening showing, the South Korean was largely overshadowed by the brilliance of Nicolas Kuhn, who replaced Forrest on the right wing at the same time. Scoring two goals and assisting a further two – both for Adam Idah – the German single-handedly turned this League Cup tie on its head and back in Celtic’s favour.

It has been quite the journey for Kuhn at Celtic. Signed in January from Rapid Vienna, the 24-year-old came to Scotland with pedigree and experience, having played for the likes of RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Ajax – specifically their ‘B Teams’. Unfairly or not, you could label the term ‘nomadic’ to Kuhn’s career thus far, having played for six clubs in his senior career up to this point.

One of two signings last winter – alongside the aforementioned Idah – Kuhn made an almost instant impact on his second appearance, scoring an equaliser versus Aberdeen up at Pittodrie – assisted by (you guessed it) Idah. Despite this solid initial contribution, however, there were other factors at play for the winger that were totally out of his own control.

Before his move to Celtic, Kuhn went under the knife in Austria to remove his wisdom teeth. Not being able to eat properly, the already-slight player lost around seven kilograms – just over a stone in weight. For a player who measures at just 5’ 9’’, this would have been a sizable weight cut – as he could not eat due to his dental procedure affecting his mouth and jaw. 

Because of this, many of those of a Celtic persuasion made their mind up about Kuhn very quickly. Indeed, he finished his first season with his new club with just three goals and three assists, showing glimpses of his quality but with admittedly very little consistency to his game as a whole.

The term ‘teething issues’ has had two meanings for Kuhn since he joined Celtic, but any doubts about his integration with this team have now evaporated. Amazingly, in just over a month of football, he has managed to better his goals and assists tally from last season. Currently on five goals and six assists in all competitions, he has overtaken fellow winger Daizen Maeda as the club’s top scorer presently. 

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This redemption arc has been taking place since before the season even officially commenced - if you have been paying attention. Two goals against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in pre-season indicated that the former Germany youth international was locked in for this forthcoming season, backing it up against Kilmarnock on Flag Day a little over a week later. He followed this encouraging start by contributing both a goal and an assist versus Hibernian at Easter Road, before doing the exact same in the League Cup – again versus David Gray’s side. 

Notching up another assist against St Mirren in Paisley further underlined and highlighted his stellar start to the season, before his contribution against Rangers was cruelly ruled out by VAR. After drawing another blank in the goal contributions column versus Hearts, he would assist Kyogo Furuhashi brilliantly in the Champions League, before adding another four to that total versus Falkirk yesterday.

His manager Rodgers yesterday spoke about his in-form player in glowing terms, following his side’s quarter-final win at Celtic Park, highlighting the journey it has taken Kuhn to get to this point. He said: “(Kuhn) was the man of the match in 30 minutes -which is quite nice.

“He was fantastic when he came into the game. He is developing into a really good player. He has been effective, and it was his press without the ball that led to the third goal.  He was there to win the ball from the full-back after setting up the equaliser and helped us get the third.

“His two finishes are two different types; one was a good strike into the bottom corner. For the other one he had time to think - so does he take it around the goalkeeper, or does he dink it? He finished it really well. It is what we want from our attacking players. 

“We want them to create goals and score goals and he did that.”

The man of the moment was also interviewed. Indeed, Kuhn said to Celtic TV: “I'm always happy to score and to assist, and in the second half we showed another face. Luckily – well, not luckily but happily - we got the win.”

“A full pre-season was important for me, in terms of getting the connection with the team and the staff. I'm feeling really good, and I hope it's going to keep going like that.”

No two ways about it, Kuhn is a player at the very top of his game. With a European trip to his native Germany to face Borussia Dortmund occurring in just over a week, you would not bet against the winger to put on a show at Signal Iduna Park in front of his very own people. 

Regardless of whether that turns out to be the case or not, Rodgers knows that the real Kuhn has finally arrived at Celtic – one that packs one hell of a bite to any opposition he faces at the moment. That should bring the manager plenty of optimism heading into the busy winter months.