NEIL LENNON has conceded defeat in the battle to retain the services of Gary Hooper.
The 25-year-old striker did not travel to Belfast for tonight's Champions League qualifier against Cliftonville, the official reason given was that a groin injury, which curtailed his appearances in the pre-season matches in Germany and Austria, has not yet cleared up.
However, by the time Hooper is fully fit, Lennon expects him to be wearing the colours of another club. Queens Park Rangers and Norwich are engaged in a bidding war to lure Hooper back to his homeland, and the Championship club appear to have the advantage as they edge closer to Celtic's £6m valuation of the prolific scorer.
Having sold Victor Wanyama to Southampton for £12.5m, Lennon does not want to lose any further first-team players. However, he has accepted the inevitability of Hooper following Wanyama to England.
Last night Lennon admitted: "The deal might fall through, but I'm resigned to losing him if the valuation is met and negotiations are agreed. I assume it will be done sooner rather than later. I don't know which club or what price, but I would expect a deal to be concluded over the next week."
Developments over the past 24 hours have hastened Lennon's pursuit of the quality replacements he believes Celtic need.
"We've identified some players and we're trying to push the button on a couple," said Lennon. "It just depends on the agents, I suppose. I'm not going to give any names away, but we are looking seriously at the striker position now."
Celtic have already bought Virgil van Dijk, from Groningen, for £2.6m and Amido Balde, from Vitoria Guimaraes, for £2m.
Lennon confirmed they have also secured 26-year-old Steven Mouyokolo, a free agent, on a short-term contract, though the defender has not been registered in time to play against Cliftonville.
Any other Celtic signings should be revealed very soon, but the former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Malaga striker Javier Saviola will not be among them. Lennon dismissed reports linking the Argentinian free agent with a possible move to Celtic Park, but admitted he does have specific targets in mind.
"We've been working on this for months, for a number of positions," said the Celtic manager. "We would like to add a bit more quality to the squad, and we have kept the ball rolling on that."
The club will not abandon its policy of buying raw talent and developing it before selling on for a profit. However, the income generated from selling Wanyama and, soon, Hooper should give Lennon access to much larger funds.
Assessing his position as a purchaser, Lennon said: "I'd say we are a lot stronger than we would have been. It's always difficult as a manger when you lose players of the quality of those two, but that's the realty of where we are.
"We can't compete with the English clubs, and it's difficult to keep the players and stop their progression.
"But we made the conscious decision three or four years ago to bring in younger players, develop them and sell them on. That policy is starting to work."
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