Mohamed Elyounoussi enjoyed his first training session as a Celtic player today (Saturday), and the fact there were a couple of familiar faces in the ranks helped him settle in on his first day.

The 25-year-old attacker, who has joined Celtic on a season-long loan from Southampton, travelled up to the club’s Lennoxtown training centre with Fraser Forster, another player who has moved to the Hoops on loan from the English Premier League side.

And waiting to greet him in the dressing-room was his international team-mate, Kristoffer Ajer.

“I also spoke to Stuart Armstrong,” Elyounoussi said, “and everyone has just had good things to say about the club and the city, so it’s been a really good first day.

“Stuart told me about the facilities here, the squad at Celtic and also the city. I asked him where I should live and things like that, stuff outside of football, and he just had great things to say about Celtic.

“It was more of a surprise for Kristoffer because I didn’t talk to him before I signed. I didn’t want to bother him since the team were preparing for the play-off game against AIK. In the end, I had heard enough to convince me to come here anyway, but now that I’m at Celtic it’s good to talk to him about it.

“I’m proud to be part of the club, to come here and I’m looking forward to the season. Celtic is a massive club with a lot of fans, and I like the challenge of trying to win games and win titles."

Elyounoussi moved to Southampton last year after a successful two-year spell in Switzerland with FC Basel. Before that, he had played with Molde in Norway, and scored home and away against Celtic when the sides met in the Europa League back in 2015.

And the Norwegian internationalist wants to put any frustrations of the past 12 months behind him as he aims to recapture the impressive form he’d shown prior to moving to England.

“I came here to become a better player and get back to where I was when I was at Basel,” he said. “So hopefully I can get some chances to show what I can do, have an impact on the game and help the team to score more goals. Obviously they’ve been doing that already, so I’m here to help with that.

“As a footballer, you always want to play more games and show what you can do, and help the team win games.

“Like I said, I want to become a better player and I know the gaffer can make me a better player, from what I’ve heard, and the way Celtic play football will suit me very well.

“I enjoy playing football for a team that has a lot of possession and where the offensive players are allowed to show their skills and be creative. In Basel we were quite dominant and had the ball a lot, and the fans expected us to, not only win games, but also score a lot of goals.

“I want to play for a club where there is a lot of pressure and you have to play well and score goals, and to be dominant in games.”

Friends reunited as New Bhoy, Mohamed, kicks off his Celtic career