John Collins says a loan move to Inverness Caledonian Thistle would be ideal for Celtic striker Anthony Stokes.

The out-of-favour goalscorer has only featured twice this season for the Scottish champions with Leigh Griffiths and Nadir Ciftci being preferred ahead of him.

Manager Ronny Deila has agreed with the player a temporary move would be ideal for the second half of the campaign as he searches for game time.

Collins admits numerous clubs have shown interest but linking up with John Hughes again should be something Stokes takes into consideration.

The Irishman played under the Caley Thistle boss for Falkirk and Hibernian before moving to Celtic in 2010.

"He'll go on loan somewhere, Anthony and the manager have decided it would be good for him to go and get some game time," Collins said.

"The preference would be in the top league against top defenders, it would be better for him and better for us.

"There's been a relationship with those two before, they've worked well with each other in the past at Falkirk and Hibs so it might be a good place for Anthony to go.

"There are a number of clubs interested, I'm not going to tell you who, but there is. The player isn't going to go somewhere he doesn't want to go, we won't force him to go, it will be his choice."

Collins reiterated a loan move would not signal the end of Stokes' Celtic career, however. He says the striker, who is in his sixth season at Parkhead, needs to play at a more competitive level of football.

"It signals the end for this season if he goes on loan but you never know in football, the door is always open," Collins continued.

"His attitude lately in training has been very good so hopefully he's turned a corner and got himself in better shape.

"But he needs games, he's had a few reserve games for us but that's not enough of a challenge for somebody with Stoksey's ability so he needs first-team football."