"Celtic have brought in the higher-class player, I think," said former Celtic midfielder MacLeod.
"When you are bringing players from Liverpool, boys who have played at Man City - it is good quality players they have brought in.
"But Rangers have brought in good quality as well."
Former Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool defender Kolo Toure and winger Scott Sinclair, formerly of Man City and Aston Villa, have been recruited by new Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
Meanwhile, Rangers counterpart Mark Warburton's big-name additions are former Burnley midfielder Joey Barton and his former QPR team-mate, Niko Kranjcar.
"I think Rangers fans will be going into this game hoping they all produce a good performance on the day," said MacLeod looking ahead to Saturday's first Old Firm game of the season at Celtic Park.
"But Celtic fans will be looking at their team and thinking they are a strong side, quicker, better and they can win the match."
However, MacLeod pointed out that the Old Firm occasion has sometimes proved too much for some notable names to handle.
"There have been a lot of players and even big-name players who have turned up for an Old Firm game and not played well," he said.
"Some players in the past, you have looked at them and thought that he will be great addition to the club and they have not produced anything.
"You have to wait until the game actually happens and then decide how well they have played."
MacLeod believes Leigh Griffiths could be the difference between the teams in Saturday's Old Firm derby - as long as the striker recovers from injury.
The 26-year-old missed Scotland's 2018 World Cup qualifying win in Malta on Sunday with a hamstring complaint, but Celtic are confident he will recover in time to face Rangers in their first Premiership encounter of the season.
"In any Old Firm game, you need people who can score goals and, when you have got Griffiths fully fit, that is so important because I think he is the one that will get goals," said MacLeod.
"Griffiths is the guy you look at that is going to score, whether from outside the box or inside the box. He is a predator and he will score goals for you at all levels."

The targeted area is controlled by the so-called Islamic State group and has been under heavy bombardment from government-aligned forces.
Dozens of people are said to have been killed during the combined assaults.
IS members recaptured the city on Sunday, hours after Russian air strikes appeared to have driven them back.
Sources in Hama province reported seeing dead bodies with no visible injuries, according to the UK-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The death toll was put at at least 40 by one citizens' group in Hama province.
The Syrian government and its Russian backers have previously denied using chemical weapons.
IS was previously driven out of the ancient desert city of Palmyra in March with the support of Russian air strikes, but the jihadist group seized it again in a sudden assault that started last week.
The surprise setback for Syrian government forces came as they and their allies turned their attention to fighting local opposition forces in Aleppo and Damascus.
IS destroyed a number of monuments and beheaded the archaeological director during its 10-month occupation of the Unesco World Heritage site and the adjacent city of Tadmur.
Two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers were left in ruins.
The jihadist group, which has also demolished several pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous.
Celtic have got the better of Rangers in the summer transfer market, according to former Bhoys assistant manager Murdo MacLeod.
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Dozens of people have been killed in air strikes and a suspected gas attack near the Syrian city of Palmyra, monitoring groups say.