I WAS pleased that Landry N'Guemo showed up well on his debut for Celtic in their pre-season friendly with Cardiff this week.

I WAS pleased that Landry N'Guemo showed up well on his debut for Celtic in their pre-season friendly with Cardiff this week.

With Shunsuke Nakamura and Paul Hartley away, it's vital that a midfielder like N'Guemo comes in and does well.

On the evidence of his first run-out against decent Championship opposition, it looks like the Cameroon internationalist will be a good addition to Tony Mowbray's side.

By all accounts, he did well in the centre of the park. Already, there is talk of Celtic taking up the option to sign the player for £1.5million from Nancy at the end of his loan spell.

Mowbray is working well in the market and it's no surprise that he's launched a move for Coventry full-back Danny Fox.

There is no specialist back-up for Lee Naylor there and Fox certainly looks to have a decent CV and could be good value at around £1.5m.

He could also do with another centre-back and somebody in a wide area in my opinion. However, Celtic are well placed ahead of the new campaign with the players they already have. They had a fairly strong squad.

Not hitting the target against Cardiff is no great cause for concern. They scored three good goals in their pre-season friendly in Australia and are looking good in attack.

Chris Killen looks as if he has a future at the club, Scott McDonald can never be overlooked, Georgios Samaras has a lot to prove and Marc-Antoine Fortune looks a decent signing.

Having said all that, I think Celtic need to step it up a gear or two in their two remaining pre-season friendlies this weekend ahead of their Champions League qualifier with Dinamo Moscow.

The Glasgow club play Al Ahly of Egypt in the Wembley Cup this evening and then Spurs on Sunday and they need to put in a morale-boosting performance in both of those fixtures to ensure they go into a huge game with confidence.

It was interesting to see Massimo Donati getting 70 minutes in the game to make the opening of Cardiff's new £50m 27,000-capacity stadium.

I know the Italian midfielder has struggled at times at Celtic, but he is a player I have always liked. He definitely has something to offer. I think the team just needs to play at his tempo.

Sometimes that has not been possible in the hurry scurry of Scottish football. The former AC Milan man gets caught on the ball a bit, doesn't release it quickly enough on occasions.

On top of all that, he had a fall-out with Gordon Strachan. Sometimes with foreign players, when that happens and they feel they are not going to play, they down tools.

When Wim Jansen was in charge at Celtic I dropped out of the team for virtually an entire season. I soon realised I would just not feature under him.

But I still worked my socks off to show them what I had. Sometimes that is not the case with the foreign boys.

This, though, is a fresh start for Donati. Mowbray has come in and quite rightly said that everybody in the squad has a chance.

He doesn't have the funds available to have a clear-out.

Maybe if Massimo gets to play in a different role under Mowbray then he will go on to flourish and show how good he is.

£3m for James is a bid too far

I WAS not surprised to see Wigan beat Celtic to the signing of James McCarthy this week.

At £3million, he was a bit rich for the Hoops.

The Parkhead club would only fork out that money for a player who was the finished article.

They can't afford to bring him in and develop him over time for that outlay. Wigan, of course, can.

It is a good move for the lad. I don't think he will be a regular down there, but he will get a first-team game, and I think he will establish himself in seasons to come.

I was also sorry to see Barry Ferguson leave Rangers and join Birmingham City in the last week, too, and wish him all the best for the future.

I was sitting chatting with Barry last season and he expressed his desire to finish his playing days at Rangers. He made no secret of that.

Sadly, that will not be possible. It's a shame for somebody who grew up supporting the Ibrox club and gave everything he had to their cause over the years.

Barry always reminded me of Paul McStay. Paul played for Celtic at a time when they were seriously struggling and carried them on his shoulders at times.

Barry was much the same. He flourished with the Gers when he had good players around him and tried to lift those around him when they were not so good.

I hope he's remembered for the great player that he was.

Be prepared for Euro test

THE Champions League qualifier with Dinamo Moscow is tough, especially as the first competitive game of the season.

Even if they overcome the Russians, Tony Mowbray's men would face an even better team in the next round.

Celtic will just need to hit the ground running and hope that they all gel at Parkhead on Wednesday against a team who have an excellent pedigree.

They must use their next two games against Al Ahly and Spurs well. Amid good results, Celtic have had some horrible outings at this level and must avoid a repeat. Who can forget losing to Artmedia Bratislava in Gordon Strachan's first game in charge?