Neil Lennon bats away bids and lines up striker on wish-list of one

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon has pared down his January shopping list to one striker: “Late 20s to early 30s” and “someone who has been over the course and distance” in a title race.

“If we are going to bring anyone in, it will be a centre-forward [but they] are hard to find,” he said. “A wealth of experience would help but January is a very difficult time to do any business.”

Even in the unlikely event of Lennon doing the business he desires, it won’t significantly alter the remarkable youthfulness of his squad, with the average age of Celtic’s starting line up for the recent derby win being just 22.7. And Lennon is concerned the board’s constraints could prove a false economy.

“If you look at last year I was trying to get [Jimmy] Bullard, I was trying to get Sol Campbell, I was trying to get David James just to give us that bit of experience but, you know, they were looking for far too much money,” he said. “For me you can’t keep buying young players. Eventually you have to go and find someone. To be fair, we have a batch in their mid 20s in [Georgios] Samaras, [Scott] Brown, [Charlie] Mulgrew. Believe it or not, they are senior members of the team at the minute. Poor Daniel [Majstorovic, at 34] is away out there on this own. Every now and again you would like to sprinkle it with a few older heads to keep the balance of the squad right.

“They [the young players] are talented but you need to match that with mentality. Whether or not that comes to bite us later on in the season, I don’t know…”

Celtic’s players are proving old enough for others to believe they are ready to leave their current home. Southampton have made an offer for Gary Hooper, Liverpool this week were reported to be interested in Adam Matthews, and have been been linked with Ki Sung-Yeung, as have Aston Villa.

Lennon has appeared stern and weary in front of the media these past couple of weeks. Little wonder when January is a month when he is more likely to lose players than sign them. In fairness to his paymasters, he already has a squad so numerous and capable – even with the loss of Beram Kayal – that he has two decent options for every position.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if a bid did come in,” Lennon said of Matthews’ link to Anfield. “But he is not for sale so anyone coming in with a bid would be wasting their time. I would say that about all the players, unless it is something stupid.”