The £700,000 signing from Motherwell teamed up with the Dutchman during Celtic's tour of Switzerland.

And despite following up victory over FC Basel with a 4-1 defeat by Young Boys of Berne, the Australia forward has been encouraged by the early stages of their partnership.

"Jan did marvellously last year and I played beside him quite a bit in the two games in Switzerland which is encouraging," McDonald said.

"He is a great target man and I haven't played with one of those for a while. In fact, I was usually the target man at Motherwell.

"A lot of the boys at Motherwell looked for me to do something more than anyone else, so it makes a change.

"It will take time to get used to each other but I can only benefit from playing beside someone of his experience and I hope to bring something to the team as well.

"The manager said Celtic didn't score enough goals last season but that is up to all of us to put right. It won't put any extra pressure on me. I'm not going to do anything differently."

McDonald was grateful to his country for leaving him out of their squad for the Asian Cup so he can establish himself at Parkhead.

"If I had been away with Australia at the Gold Cup it would have been a lot more difficult for me," the 23-year-old said.

"I've been fighting for my place from the start instead of coming in later and hoping to walk straight into the team.

"I spoke to the Australian FA and the manager, Graham Arnold, and they have been terrific with me. They knew how important it was I came out here.

"Once I'm settled at Celtic, hopefully I can represent my country and give them the benefit for years to come."