Kelvin Wilson welcomes hectic Celtic schedule

Wilson did not play for Nottingham Forest again after signing a pre-contract deal with Celtic early in January, and had only played ten games previously in an injury-hit season. The 25-year-old feels the friendly action has allowed him to get to know his team-mates and to get back up to speed in a less-demanding situation.

The centre-back started Celtic's opening SPL win over Hibs and was not frustrated to have to wait two weeks for the second, against Aberdeen on Sunday. Celtic opted out of the second weekend of fixtures to take on Inter Milan and an Airtricity League select in the Dublin Super Cup.

Wilson said: "I think it's helping. It's showing in training, everyone is getting sharper. The Inter game was a great experience, playing against world-class players, which you don't do every week. I took a few things from it."

Celtic's pre-season schedule started in Australia, where they played three games, and Wilson felt the tour was vital to help him settle in. "Everyone knows Rangers and Celtic are big clubs but when you get here and see the fanbase and the set-up, it blows you away," Wilson said.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon will leave some first-team players behind with Sunday's Pittodrie encounter in mind when they travel to Wales. "We'll try and put a good team out," said Lennon. "Again, we might look at a different formation and see how that suits some of the players. We'll go with a strongish team, and we will leave some of the more senior boys who put a lot of effort in over the weekend behind just so they have a couple of training days ahead of the game at Pittodrie."

Lennon is still looking for a goalkeeper following Croatia international Stipe Pletikosa's failure to win a deal, while the chance of a move for Craig Bellamy appears remote. Lennon admitted last week that Bellamy was still on his list of targets but he qualified that with a comment that finances might prove an obstacle. Bellamy, who spent last season with Cardiff, had previously stated he did not want to go out on loan from Manchester City and that he would not take a drop in wages.

That situation does not appear to have changed, although Celtic might have more chance of persuading Bellamy to return to Parkhead for a second loan spell towards the end of the transfer window if the Welshman is still sidelined at City.