The 20-year-old midfielder expects to complete his transfer to the Scottish champions over the weekend and the Catalans have reportedly confirmed a fee of around £1.2million has been agreed between both clubs.

Strachan looked to the future when discussing the imminent arrival of Crosas, saying: "Peter Lawwell (chief executive) is looking after all these things and we left him to tie up the loose ends.

"My part comes when he joins us and we try to make him a better player.

"And anybody who joins us hopefully makes us a better team."

However, the Celtic manager claims the Hoops faithful will see a more familiar look to their team against the Saints, despite some alterations to formation and personnel during pre-season matches.

He said: "There's different types of teams in the SPL and different types of games.

"But we play 4-4-2 with variations and I can't see that changing much.

"We tried one or two things abroad and that will help us in our own European campaign but we will play 4-4-2 against St Mirren on Sunday.

"I think fans like us playing that way and we feel comfortable that way.

"We have two strikers who scored 50 goals a season so you try to find a system that compliments your best parts."

Strachan has been buoyed by the fact that his squad had all improved on their pre-season fitness tests from the previous summer.

The former Coventry and Southampton boss is hoping that will make a difference as they set out to win their fourth title on the trot.

He said: "It's great to know that you are fit.

"It's a great psychological boost when you play against people when you are fitter than them.

"And it's a disadvantage when you know you are not as fit as other people.

"So we try to make players fit, not just to run about but to use their skills longer, whether it be defensive skills or attacking skills."

Strachan added: "We have had different challenges over the last three years.

"We had to recover from the body blow of losing the title in the last game of the previous season.

"We recovered from being knocked out of Europe and from the fact that 13 first-team players had moved on to win the title back.

"We had to maintain that in the second year and retain the title, which we did and in the third year we got pushed to the limit.

"So we have had to handle different types of pressure in the last three years."

Meanwhile, the Parkhead club announced they have released 1,000 extra season tickets for sale.

The club has reached its target for the coming year but has now released additional tickets of various kinds, with prices available for children from just £50.