Harry Redknapp, the Queens Park Rangers manager, believes Gary Hooper has been persuaded to swap potential Champions League football for a return to the English second tier.

Celtic yesterday accepted relegated QPR's bid of around £5m for the 25-year-old fully three years, and 82 goals, after they paid £2.4m to take him north from Scunthorpe United.

The ball has been in Hooper's court for several days after it became clear Celtic were prepared to do business given that he will be out of contract in a year and rejected the offer of a new deal. He has seemed hesitant about dropping back into the league he left in 2010, especially as Norwich City offered a potential route to the Barclays Premier League. But last night Redknapp was optimistic he was about to land the player who was close to an England call-up last term.

Redknapp made the comments on Thursday before Norwich agreed a fee with Celtic for Hooper.

"It's all been agreed," he said. "I've not been dealing with it but the chief executive and the chairman have been dealing with Celtic. Hopefully we're close to finally getting there but until it's done you're never sure. He's a player we've been chasing for a while and now we've agreed a deal.

"We've followed him from his days at Gray's Athletic to Southend to Scunthorpe," Redknapp told STV. "Then he's gone and scored goals at the highest level with Celtic. So he's proved that he's a goalscorer. I would love to see him being the leading goalscorer in the Championship and hopefully that would mean us being promoted. If he came here and was a prolific scorer you never know [about an England call]. We're not overloaded with great strikers, and everyone's looking for a good goalscorer."

Neil Lennon had hoped to make a final attempt to convince Hooper to stay and intended to play him in Saturday's friendly against Borussia Moenchengladbach. Instead the striker's cameo appearance against Cliftonville on Tuesday may prove to have been his last. Hooper, who attracted bids from Norwich City and Hull City earlier this year, scored 31 goals last term and would be a major loss so soon after the £12.5m transfer of Victor Wanyama to Southampton.

Parkhead favourite Stiliyan Petrov last night advised Hooper not to go to the Championship for the sake of his career. Petrov, who spent seven years at Celtic before joining Aston Villa in 2006, said: "I would be surprised if he went to QPR. I don't think he should. If he goes [to another club] it should be to the Premier League. Otherwise he has a great environment here. He wants to play for England but if he's scoring for Celtic that shouldn't be a problem. Goals are goals, whether you're scoring them.

"Parkhead is a hard place to leave if you want to make a step up. When 
I went a lot of fans asked me: 'why do you want to leave such a great club'. 
I replied that it was a great club and that maybe I'd regret it, but I was happy because I went to a league where the players were stronger and faster and I learned a lot there. Gary would find it difficult but, with his ability, he can become one of the top strikers in that division."

Lennon's main target is Latvian Artjoms Rudnevs but Hamburg want £5m for him and the striker may not agree to the wages on offer at Celtic. Saber Khelifa, the Evian forward, is also on a list of possible signings and wants to leave the French club, but he remains a target for Montpellier. Celtic have also been linked with Kevin Doyle of Wolves. Midnight tonight is the signing deadline for the Champions League tie with Elfsborg, although there is leeway for one new arrival to be registered up to 24 hours before Wednesday's first leg.