FORMER Celtic striker Frank McGarvey today told Ronny Deila that the key to European success next season lies in going with a two-pronged frontline.

The Celtic manager has deployed a system with one forward – for the second half of the season it was Leigh Griffiths – supported by two wide players, but McGarvey believes that if he went with a more traditional front two, Celtic would be formidable up top.

Deila’s philosophy favours an attacking formation, and McGarvey expects that it would wield greater returns with more than one out-and-out striker on the park.

“I don’t understand why Celtic go into the game with just one forward, especially at Celtic Park,” he said. “To me, you should always be going with at least two up front.

“I like the way Celtic are playing. I like the football, I like the style, and the results in the second half of last season were good. But you play two strikers with that same method of getting forward all the time and you’ll blow teams away.

“I think it is much easier to keep the ball and keep pressure on opposition defences if there is more than one forward player holding the ball up.

“I am sure that there will be at least one more striker added to the squad before the end of the transfer window. If that’s the case, I’d like to see a two-team forward line.”

Meanwhile, McGarvey has also told the Parkhead club that if Virgil van Dijk has his heart set on a move elsewhere then it is better to cash in on him rather than run the risk of him upsetting the rest of the dressing room.

“First of all, I have to say I think Virgil is a wonderful talent and, in an ideal world, Celtic wouldn’t be selling anyone,” he said. “I would like the manager to get the chance to build on the season he has just had.

“But if you have a player there who is not happy then you have to let him go. I wouldn’t want to get rid of a guy with those talents lightly because he is a player that I expect to see at the very top level, but it becomes very hard if his heart isn’t in it.

“You need to have players who are 100 per cent focused on the club and who want to run through a brick wall for you – you’ll never do that if your eye is on another club. Virgil is a massive talent. He is a great player who has shown class all over the pitch.

“He has the prospect of Champions League football with Celtic, which to me should be a massive incentive to stay, but if he is so keen to go to another club then it gets very hard to keep him.

“The danger is that you have an unhappy player and one unhappy player soon starts to rub off on everyone around him. I have seen it happen.

“If you don’t want to be there, then you need to go. I am a great believer in that.

“I don’t want to see any Celtic player leave the club. But if he has made it as clear as has been reported through the media that he wants to quit, then Celtic need to get top dollar for him.

“He can go all the way to the top and the asking price has to reflect that.”

Celtic will find out who awaits in the second qualifying round of the Uefa Champions League qualifiers this afternoon. It is the beginning of a long road which the Parkhead club hope will lead to the lucrative group stages of the prestigious tournament.

McGarvey added: “I think they are ready and I think they are in a good place just now, but I would like to see another striker in there.

"I’d like to see at least a forward brought in before then, but I have to say that I do think they are in a far better place than they were this time 12 months ago.”