I watched Celtic draw with AC Milan and noted bumper contract offer, starting XI for Dundee and bullish player

New signing Camilo Duran opened the scoring and James Forrest added a second to put the hosts 2-0 up at half-time, but the Serie A side fought back and earned a draw via a double from Francisco Camardo.

Mark Atkinson was at Celtic Park for The Scotsman and picks out three takeaways from the match:

What is Celtic’s starting XI for Dundee?

Celtic begin their defence of the Premiership a week on Monday when Dundee visit Parkhead. The game against AC Milan was manager Martin O’Neill’s last chance to run the rule over his squad, albeit there is a full week of training and prep before the Dees visit.

It begs the question - what will the Celtic team look like for the opener?

Bodo/Glimt striker Kasper Hogh is set to join the club in the coming days unless there is a glitch with the medical. It is hard to gauge whether Celtic will have any new faces, given that transfer business hasn’t been concluded quickly thus far during the summer.

Celtic appear set to stay in the 4-3-3 formation and the likelihood is that no further new signings will force their way into the starting XI. Even Hogh might have to settle for a place on the bench given he will be just in the door.

Benjamin Nygren is nursing an Achilles issue and may not be ready, while centre-half Liam Scales is suspended. Who plays instead of him is interesting, as Auston Trusty only returns this week. Will he be thrown in? It’s likely given the lack of other options.

We reckon the team may look something like this: Sinisalo; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Tierney; McGregor, Engels, McCowan; Forrest, Duran, Tounekti.

Is Sinisalo Celtic’s No 1?

With Kasper Schmeichel having left Celtic at the end of last season and no new goalkeeper having yet been identified, Viljami Sinisalo is going to start the season as No 1 ahead of Ross Doohan.

The 24-year-old Finn had a reasonable 2025/26 season - but Celtic will almost certainly bring in someone to compete with him. In the meantime, Sinisalo is relishing being the man with the gloves.

“I've always said this is what I want to do,” said Sinisalo after the AC Milan game. “It's an amazing club to play for, and to get that chance to be a number one, it's very good, I've always wanted to be the number one. But at football clubs like this, there's always competition and you've got to play well to stay in the team. That's as simple as it gets.”

The end of an era

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill only worked with Daizen Maeda briefly, but he was clearly saddened that the Japanese’s four-and-a-half year spell in Glasgow has officially come to an end with a move to Ipswich Town.

O’Neill revealed that Celtic offered Maeda a bumper contract offer more than a year ago, but the player rejected it as he had his heart set on a move to either England or Germany.

“Naturally, I will miss him,” said O’Neill. “He was in his last year of his contract. Before I came here, the club made him a real big offer, in our terms, at least 16 months ago. And the lad refused to do it in the sense that he wanted to play in the Premier League if he could, or the Bundesliga.

“So I will obviously miss him, but I'm delighted for him at the same time, genuinely delighted for him. He deserves the move because he's been fantastic for the club and we will definitely miss him. We will just miss his presence around about the place and I think Ipswich will be getting somebody that I think they will grow to really like. That's a big chance for him.

“I'm not so sure that the money is his driving force, but he will do really well and that's good news. And he deserves it, he deserves every single penny of it.