‘Bubbly’ Kasper Hogh will not be ‘hiding in the toilet’, says Celtic boss Martin O’Neill

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has been encouraged by Kasper Hogh’s bold personality as he ponders how to get the most out of his two new forwards.

Hogh arrived in Glasgow to prepare for Celtic’s William Hill Premiership opener against Dundee on Monday following his move from Bodo/Glimt in a deal which could be worth around £11m.

When asked if the 25-year-old was ready to feature straight away, O’Neill said: “Yeah, and he’s a bit of a character as well too, so that’s good news. He’s bubbly, he wants to do well and I think he’ll be really good for us.”

The 74-year-old had major characters in the forward positions during his first spell at Celtic Park in Henrik Larsson, John Hartson and Chris Sutton.

When asked if having a big personality was a prerequisite for a Celtic striker, he said: “I think you do. Yes, I do. I don’t know what sort of personalities the centre-forwards have had in recent times.

“But I do know that when I managed this club before, I had big players, Sutton, Hartson and Larsson. Larsson didn’t say a great deal off the field. He did all his talking on the pitch.

“Kasper is definitely bubbly, which is good. I prefer that at this minute than somebody just stepping in and hiding in the toilet.”

O’Neill’s only other summer signing so far, Colombian Camilo Duran, has netted three goals in three friendlies from the centre-forward position.

And the former Aston Villa and Leicester manager is toying with the idea of linking both signings together.

“I would think that, given time, the two players should be able to play together without a problem,” he said.

“I don’t know whether it means changing systems, changing all that type of stuff, but they’re good players.”

Duran arrived from Qarabag as a centre-forward but has shown versatility throughout his career.

“He has played off the wide as well too, so that’s encouraging,” O’Neill said. “I’m not so sure that that’s eventually where I want him to play.

“He might have to do that for the time being, but until we get all the players I’m talking about getting in. I see him being able to play as a striker or just off the striker.”

O’Neill always preferred a strike partnership during his first spell in Glasgow.

“I know that we played a 3-5-2 a lot of times, but then we changed it when some teams cottoned on to it,” he said. “European matches as well too. And then we ended up changing to 4-4-2. We played that very, very often.

“But we had serious running power wide. Didier Agathe couldn’t be stopped going forward.

“So if it meant us having to adjust to get them to play together, that shouldn’t be a problem. Famous last words, but it shouldn’t be.

“And this is the point, we should be able to adapt. We’ve played this 4-3-3 system for quite some considerable time. It’s been successful, which is fine.

“But we should be able to adapt during the course of the game. It’s only a matter of changing people ten yards in, ten yards out. Really, there’s not much more than that.”