Lennon backs ‘£10m man’ to lift Celtic spirits

LAST year, Neil Lennon started his first European campaign as Celtic manager without his most valuable player. In the throes of his eventual £9.5 million move to Spartak Moscow, Aiden McGeady sat out the Champions League qualifier against Braga and avoided being ineligible for the Russian club’s own campaign in the group stage of the tournament.

Twelve months on, Lennon believes he has another player in his squad who is worth just as much as McGeady. Ki Sung Yueng is the man rated so highly by Lennon who is determined to retain his services for what he hopes will be a lengthier and more rewarding European campaign as Celtic manager.

Ki has been linked with both Tottenham Hotspur and Blackburn Rovers this week, with Lennon admitting yesterday he is aware of interest in the 22-year-old South Korean international midfielder.

But, as he prepares for the first leg of the Europa League play-off round tie against Sion at Celtic Park tonight, Lennon’s only thoughts are of Ki playing a crucial role in the bid to make up for the double disappointment of last season’s back-to-back eliminations at the hands of Braga and Utrecht.

“I think Ki will make the club a lot of money one day,” observed Lennon. “He is unquestionably a £10m player like Aiden. He is certainly coming into that bracket now. He has turned heads already. There is nothing substantial that I’m aware of, although I know there is interest in him. But we want to keep our best players.

“He is a real asset for the club now, a wonderful footballer. He is everything you would want in the modern day midfield player. He is 6ft 2in, a fantastic athlete, very good on the ball under pressure.

“He is a good at passing, excellent with both feet and has a goal in him as we saw again against Dundee United on Saturday. So we think he can turn out to be a really world class player.”

Lennon’s preparations for tonight’s match have been disrupted both by injuries among his own squad and uncertainty over the composition of the Sion side with the Swiss Cup holders embroiled in controversy over the eligibility of six of their players signed before a recent transfer embargo was lifted.

But, despite the loss of striker Gary Hooper, who joined Beram Kayal, Emilio Izaguirre and Glenn Loovens on the injured list at the weekend, Lennon is optimistic he has sufficient resources to cope with whatever challenge Sion pose.

“I’d have been happier going into the game with Hooper, Kayal and Izaguirre playing,” he said, “but we have started the season relatively well and should still be able to put a strong team out.

“Sion are a very good team. We’ve had them watched a few times. We don’t know what team of theirs we are going to be playing, which is an interesting scenario to say the least. It would be good to have a clearer idea of that, but its outwith our control. We will deal with what’s in front of us.

“They went to Basel a couple of weeks ago and scored three. They pressed the game early on, and they are a big team, very adept at set-pieces, which is something we have to be aware of.

“They have a bit of pace up front, but they are beatable. We have plenty of attacking options ourselves, but I would be surprised if they came to shut up shop. We want to get a foothold in the tie and make sure we take a decent advantage over to Switzerland next week.

“We’ll need the backing of the crowd and people are excited about this team, but we’ll have to temper that with the players and not get carried away. It could be a long night as you don’t know which way these games can go. We might be on top, we might be in for a slog, the players have to be prepared for both.”

Last season saw a 2-0 first leg home victory against Utrecht at the same stage of the Europa League prove insufficient for Celtic when they were humbled 4-0 in the Netherlands.

“I wouldn’t be more than confident with a 2-0 lead going to Sion this time,” said Lennon, “but I’d definitely take that result. I’d be delighted going into the second leg 2-0 up.

“From a footballing point of view, it would be fantastic to get into the group stage. We have a young team and it would be great for their development. So even this early in the season, these are two very critical games against Sion.

“I’m trying not to place a huge onus on the tie, because our priority this season has to be the SPL title, but we are looking to progress in Europe if we can.”