Ange Postecoglou's Celtic have been labelled 'a Premier League team in the making' by Norwich City boss Dean Smith after the Scottish champions defeated the Championship side 2-0 in a friendly on Sunday.
The Hoops scored a goal in each half - via Daizen Maeda and David Turnbull - to comfortably defeat a Canaries side that featured the likes of Todd Cantwell, Teemu Pukki, Max Aarons and Tim Krul.
Norwich City were relegated from the Premier League last season and their coach Smith, who also managed Aston Villa, was perfectly qualified to comment on Celtic's quality.
The Englishman felt Celtic were close to Premier League standard, revealing how impressed he was with Postecoglou's work in Glasgow.
“Celtic are a good level team,” Smith said. “You can see what they have been working on.
“They have good rotation and movement, full-backs coming inside and the wide players drift onto the outside and try to give overloads in different parts of the pitch. They have really good movement too.
“They are probably a Premier League team in the making.
“[It was] a really good test for us. Obviously we’ve got Hibs tomorrow but it’s a great game to have going into Cardiff next weekend.
“A real test because of the way they play, they have really good technicians of the ball and play at speed.
“I’m happy with it.”
Celtic will be aiming to dominate the domestic scene again in 2022-23, after wrestling the league title back off Rangers and winning the League Cup last season in Postecoglou's first campaign in charge.
However, the Hoops will be looking for an improvement in their exploits in European football, having been eliminated from the Champions League in the second qualifying round, Europa League in the group stage and the Conference League in the first knockout round.
This season, Celtic will enter the Champions League in the group stage - for the first time since 2017-18 as a reward for winning the most recent Scottish league title.
