Christie left Celtic to join Championship side Bournemouth in the summer and has started three of their four league games since joining the club.
Premier League outfit Burnley were also interested in the midfielder, but he decided to join Bournemouth’s effort to get promoted from the Championship.
Bartley stressed that it must have been hard for the 26-year-old to leave Celtic given their stature and feels arriving at Bournemouth might have been a shock for the player as well.
He conceded that Christie might have been looking for a fresh challenge and wants Bournemouth to get promoted as he believes the midfielder deserves to play in the Premier League.
Bartley said on the Go Radio Football Show: “It must be so difficult to leave Celtic.
“Celtic and Rangers are such big clubs and it might be a shock to him.
“Obviously going down there, the wages will be good, especially if they go up, the wages will be fantastic.
“No disrespect to Bournemouth, I played there but they are 14,000-seater stadium. To go there from Celtic Park.
“Everyone in Glasgow and Scotland knows who you are but in Bournemouth, you can walk around and no one knows who you are, even in the Premier League.
“For him, he probably needed a new challenge and he wanted to go down to England and Bournemouth are a fantastic club to be at.
“Hopefully, for his sake, they do get promoted and he gets to test himself in the Premier League because he deserves it.”
Christie made more than 150 appearances for Celtic and scored 41 times for the Glasgow giants.
