Neil Lennon insists that his main priority is to bag another top striker while the Celtic boss prepares for an epic campaign.
The Hoops boss is looking for the strong Peterborough ace Ivan Toney and West Ham frontman Albian Ajeti, while former Hibs and Sunderland goalie Steven Fletcher is a free agent and has offered his services.
Celts saw a £ 5m bid for Toney, which Posh rejected, while Ajeti weighed up his options and Lennon confirmed that he wanted to strengthen his firepower for the 10 In A Row bid.
He said: “It is the most important position on the field. We had some injuries and absenteeism in this department. So if quality is available and we think that is the right thing, we will pursue it.
“We’ll take a look at the squad later. It will be a club decision whether we consider it value for money.
“Fletcher is a good player. I’m not going to confirm or deny that, I don’t want to talk about individuals.
“We were connected to a lot of strikers, midfielders and midfielders. There is one or two areas we want to add because we let some players go.
“We let go of seven or eight and only added Vasilis Barkas to the squad, so it’s important that we bring quality to the areas we’re looking for.”
Lennon snatched up goalkeeper Barkas in a record £ 4.5m deal and Celtic has shown they are serious about Toney’s big cash offer.
The pandemic has hit football finances all over the world, but Hoops’s headlights are confident he will
receive the funds to prepare for a potentially historic campaign.
Lennon said: “The market is open and we have already seen some big names and big money.
“It will be interesting to see how it calms down. We are very concerned that some of our players are interested and we have to deal with that later.
“But we will try to expand the squad. We have had Mo Elyounoussi in the building for a few weeks.
“Barkas is the first real addition to the squad, so we’ll try to add to it over time.
“We were patient and it was difficult, but I don’t think it was more difficult than any other transfer window.”
Lennon wants to capture his key characters and revealed that there are no approaches for sought-after stars like Odsonne Edouard and Kris Ajer.
He said: “In recent years we have sold players for a lot of money, Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney. We have adapted accordingly.
“It’s always difficult when top-class players leave, but we’ve been doing this for 10-12 years. There may be interest in one or two of our players, but we have not phoned any of them, which has been a pleasant aspect of the previous season. “
Celtic will fly the Premier League flag before starting the campaign against Hamilton tomorrow behind closed doors.
Barkas will sit on the bench while Mikey Johnston will be at the door up to eight weeks later
Calf surgery.
Lennon welcomed the government’s plans to reintroduce the crowd next month, but he is only thrilled that the season has started on time.
He said: “It’s great to be back. Nobody knew what was coming. Scotland has dealt with this pandemic just like everyone else.
“It’s great to have football again and I hope it stays that way. We see the danger of a second tip in some other countries and we want to avoid that
“It will be pretty moving when the games start, but it will be even better if we can get the fans back to the stadiums.”
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