Ambrose is man in the middle

But the Nigerian defender is not about to follow his best pal through the exit door.

Ambrose's move is internal, and will see him travel just a few yards further up the pitch to fill the hole soon to be vacated by Wanyama.

The 24-year-old was brought to Glasgow a year ago from Israeli club, FC Ashdod, with a short-term plan to play him in central defence alongside Kelvin Wilson, who appreciated the pace and comfort on the ball – if not the erratic behaviour – Ambrose brought to the Hoops back-line.

But the long-term plan was always to have Ambrose ready to step forward and vie with Beram Kayal to occupy the holding midfield position which was impressively filled by Wanyama.

So, with the Kenyan expected to complete his £12million move south within the next few days, instead of having to go out and find a replacement then integrate him into the side, Neil Lennon can simply move to phase two with the already-established and assimilated Ambrose.

The man who is currently on a belated holiday after playing for Nigeria in the Confederations Cup in Brazil was given a chance to play in the midfield hole on a number of occasions last season.

The fine tuning will now be done in pre-season, once Ambrose meets up with his team-mates, who head to Germany on Monday where they will play four games against varying levels of opposition.

The manager confirmed that, on his return to the fold, Ambrose will be looking for a new position when he discussed the signing of Virgil van Dijk.

He said of the 21-year-old Dutchman, brought in from Groningen for £2.6m: "We have been looking for a dominant partner for Kelvin Wilson.

"We are hoping Virgil will be the answer. He is 6 ft 4 ins, and we feel he is technically very good.

"He has great presence on the pitch and will suit our style of play."

Celtic will also hope they are correct in their assessment that van Dijk is more composed than the sometimes-unpredictable Ambrose.

The man who arrived on a three-year contract from Israeli football could swing from being in the Champions League team of the week for his disciplined performance against Lionel Messi and Co. in the Nou Camp, to gifting goals with basic errors of judgment in the home leg of their last 16 tie against Juventus just hours after arriving back from the African Cup of Nations.

Now, if Ambrose's errors are made, they will not be in such crucial areas of the pitch, and there will be a safety net in the form of van Dijk and Wilson.

Of course, Ambrose could also be deployed in a back three alongside the Dutchman and Englishman, if Lennon feels that is the way he wants to set up his side to face a particular opponent.

And the rangy Nigerian has also been fielded at right-back, though that is an area in which Celtic now look to be very well covered, with Adam Matthews and Mikael Lustig battling for that slot.

Lennon likes flexibility in his squad, and Lustig, like Ambrose, can play in a variety of positions.

But finding a settled side has so far proved impossible for Lennon, who has made wholesale changes to the personnel in the squad since he took over from Tony Mowbray three years ago.

With the arrival of van Dijk and Amido Balde, he has given himself even more decisions to make in terms of team selection.

But, given what this pair bring to the party – Balde's aerial threat in attack and van Dijk's dominance and passing ability in defence – they are good problems to have.

It is likely the squad will be stretched once again. But after another end-of-season purge, Lennon believes he now has more men vying for starting places on a regular basis.

That should re-energise those already holding down starting positions.

The ambition is to raise the quality throughout, helping them to overcome the inevitable loss of key components of the side like Wanyama, and possibly Gary Hooper.

In van Dijk and Balde, the Celtic manager reckons they have taken another couple of steps in the direction of achieving this aim.

The Hoops boss said: "They are two very talented young players who we think will make us better.

"Amido is very powerful in the air, and that is something we have not had for quite a while.

"He is young (22), but we feel that, in a year or two's time, he could progress into a really top-class striker.

"Amido is very athletic, and he does not have a bad touch for a big man.

"And his goal record last season (nine in 27 appearances for Vitoria Guimaraes) was very good."

Van Dijk is another who Celtic scouted extensively before they made their move, while managing to keep their interest under the radar of other clubs who might also have been tracking the rising start.

Lennon said: "Virgil has great composure.

"Again, he has great presence on the pitch. At 21, technically, he is very, very good. He is the type of player we like at the club."