Loovens opted to join the SPL champions over Old Firm rivals Rangers when he agreed a £2.5m move from Cardiff.

Strachan feels the 25-year-old has yet to reach his peak and is confident he will achieve that at Parkhead.

"Glenn is at a good age and is years away from his peak," said Strachan.

"What we have got to do is prepare him for his peak, get him ready to play at this level and to do well in the Champions League.

"He'll gain experience and hopefully get better and better.

"It would be great if we had £20million to spend but, if I did Glenn, wouldn't be sitting here, it'd be Rio Ferdinand.

"But we have a certain amount of money and this gives us our chance to develop our own players and that's exciting and is good for us.

"Speaking to him, he does want to get better. So it looks good for us.

"We have to try and get the best of what we can of raw materials and make them better.

"Glenn likes to defend, he's got good stature and good pace.

"We got close to him in the tournament in Portugal and we realised he's vocal as well. He likes to be part of the defensive unit, there's plenty there to work with."

While Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell have been Strachan's first choice centre-half pairing, Loovens is confident he can force his way into the team.

He said: "I've come here and I want to play so it's up to me now to do well and give the manager a problem.

"I spoke to a few people and they all had great stories about Celtic, so I only expect the best.

"I spoke to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and also to Pierre van Hooijdonk and he told me a few stories about Celtic. I only heard great stories so I can't wait to get started.

"My main area is centre-half and that is my best position.

"It's a big step forward for me. Celtic play for medals, they play in the Champions League and I only see this as a big step forward in my career."

Strachan has favoured McManus and Caldwell in the centre of his defence but revealed he has no set ideas of what his strongest team is yet.

He said: "What we're trying to do is develop as a group here to be ready to play at any time.

"We'll have a group of centre-halves, a group of full-backs and I do not have a set team in my mind.

"I have a se -way of playing in my mind and whoever's face fits the bill for that week or month or year will play, there's no doubt about that.

"We have a group that are around the same age and will be learning at the same time."

Rangers manager Walter Smith had been keen to bring Loovens to Ibrox but their bid fell short of Cardiff's valuation.

But Loovens revealed he made up his mind to move to Celtic once he knew of their interest.

He said: "In the beginning, there was only Rangers but in the end Celtic were the club I wanted to play for and let's focus on them now."

However much he improves, Loovens faces an impossible task to emulate the feats of legendary Celtic skipper Billy McNeill.

Loovens could make his debut against Falkirk in the SPL on Saturday, 50 years after the man who lifted the club's only European Cup made his first Hoops appearance.

Celtic will mark the occasion during this weekend's game, with McNeill to be presented on the pitch at half-time.

He made 790 appearances for the club, winning nine league championships, seven Scottish Cups, six League Cups as well as the European Cup in 1967.