“Having seen him every day here, what a player!” Kasper Schmeichel on Matt O’Riley

The legendary Danish goalkeeper admitted that he has already started work on convincing Matt o’Riley, who is likely to be his international teammate this season, to remain at Celtic for this season at least, and to use this campaign as the perfect platform to showcase his talent in the new look Champions League.

“I’m trying everything, trust me!” Kasper said. “I’m trying everything to make him stay. But he’s not given anything away yet so you’d need to ask him. But from what I know of Matt he’s a very level-headed guy with great parents behind him helping him with whatever decisions.

“What I do know is that he does love playing here and he has loved his time here. And whether it’s now – or hopefully later – then no matter what, Celtic means a great deal to him. For me, I hope he stays. And I’m doing everything I can to convince him.”

“There aren’t many better arenas to show what you can do than the Champions League. And he’s already done that. I just hope he’s there again in a Celtic top for me to experience as well.

“He’s a top quality player. It’s always difficult to judge when your with the national team as you meet, have matchday -1, game day, recovery and then you go away again. You don’t get a lot of time to see people. But having seen him every day here, what a player!”

The Great Dane also spoke about how Celtic has always been an attractive proposition for himself personally, referring back to his early days in the game when former Celt John Hughes gave him his big chance to play first team football at Falkirk, and he spoke brilliantly about the wonderful send-off that the Celtic support gave to his close friend Joe Hart at the end of last season.

“There was always something with Celtic for some reason. We have had Morten Wieghorst and Thomas Gravesen playing here and it was always a club that appealed to me in some way.

“I followed Celtic a lot closer with Joe being here and having played here as a youngster, it made a big impression. I knew what the club was and how big it is. I just want to win here. That is my motivation – to be together as a team and accomplish something.

“Those days are few and far between in football and they last forever in the memory. There has been a rich history of winning here and I am here to do whatever I can to make that continue,” Schmeichel said.