CELTIC manager Martin O’Neill expects his full World Cup contingent to be available for the season opener — minus the departed Daizen Maeda.

Maeda completed his transfer to Ipswich on Saturday and looks set to be replaced by Bodo/Glimt forward Kasper Hogh in a deal which could be worth about £11 million.

Scotland left-back Kieran Tierney and Tunisia winger Sebastian Tounekti both started in Saturday’s 2-2 friendly draw with AC Milan.

South Korea winger Yang Hyun Jun, Sweden midfielder Benjamin Nygren, Canada right-back Alistair Johnston and United States defender Auston Trusty have not featured in pre-season.

O’Neill, whose team kick off their Premiership title defence at home to Dundee on August 3, said: “Trusty comes back on Monday. He’s had some family things. I’ve given him a little bit of extra time, which I think he’s deserved.

“Nygren’s here. He didn’t play, he’s got a bit of an Achilles problem. I think he’s OK. He played for Sweden in at least one of the games. I don’t think it’s massive.

“Kieran played for 60 minutes. I was hoping that Alistair might have played maybe 20 minutes, he was ready for it. I have to be guided by our sports science guys. If anything happened to him, I’d get it in the neck from the sports science boys.

“Yang’s back. He’s done some training. A little bit of a hiccup there a couple of days ago, but he’ll be fine.

“I’m probably less concerned about those boys because they have played matches in the World Cup. You take a little bit of a break and the last thing you want to do is be rushing them back. By Monday, I think everybody will be back.”

Following the departure of a number of players, mainly loanees, plus slow incoming transfer activity and absence of the World Cup players, O’Neill has supplemented his pre-season squad with a number of young players.

Thomas Hatton and Sean McArdle both impressed off the bench in wide positions against Milan with the former coming close to a spectacular goal when he beat two men and shot just wide from 25 yards.

“I just congratulated Tam for his spell on the field,” O’Neill said. “He’s prepared to take people on, which is great. I think that’s like a dying art. So he’ll get all the encouragement in the world. He’s a young lad making his way in the game. Really encouraging.

“Obviously there’s a battle on to try to get into the side like anything else, but I was really impressed with him. As I’ve been impressed with his attitude during the whole pre-season.”