Scott Brown is optimistic that Celtic will keep hold of Moussa Dembele – at least until the January transfer window.

The French striker is currently sidelined with a recurrence of the hamstring injury he sustained at the end of last season but he has been strongly linked with AC Milan, Chelsea and Marseilles this summer.

Dembele netted 32 goals in his inaugural season after signing for just £500k last term and Brown is in no rush to see the player head elsewhere.

Read more: Celtic captain Scott Brown insists Hoops thrive off pressure and expectancy

"We want him to be at the club for as long as possible," he said."He's got strength and different sort of qualities. When he played in Champions League matches, he scored and created chances. His hold up play was fantastic.

"Yet again, we've got Leigh Griffiths there and he scored 40 goals the season before. He didn't have as many games last season, but still scored a fair amount of goals."

Meanwhile, Brown is insistent that Celtic are in no mood to relinquish their grip of the domestic game.

The Parkhead side will host the opening game of the league season on Saturday afternoon against Hearts when Brown himself will unfurl the Championship flag.

Celtic are unbeaten since May 2016, a run of 48 domestic games.

Read more: Celtic captain Scott Brown insists Hoops thrive off pressure and expectancy

"We want to try and push that as far as we can, every game is going to be hard, especially the opening game of the season,” said the Celtic captain.

"We've got to maintain our levels that we played at last season. It was an exciting start last season and we kicked on. Nobody thought we could go all the way [unbeaten], but we managed to do that.

"But that was last season, it's all been forgotten about now and we've got to start fresh again.

"The first game of the season is against a good old pal, Christophe Berra. I'll be looking forward to him kicking me and it should be a good contest."