BRINGING in a striker, preferably one that can add a bit of physicality to the Celtic attack along with some support for Odsonne Edouard, is Neil Lennon’s stated priority during this transfer window.

The Celtic manager, along with Head of Football Operations Nick Hammond, have been working on a list of targets that fit the bill, and top of that list is Slovenian striker Andraz Sporar, with Lennon confirming that talks had opened with Slovan Bratislava to bring the 25-year-old to Glasgow.

“He’s one of a number of options we are talking to at the minute,” Lennon said after the recent win at St Mirren. But who is Sporar, and what can Celtic supporters expect of him if they Lennon lands his man?

Well, with 20 goals in 26 appearances for club and country this season, and with five of those coming from six Europa League appearances, it is perhaps no surprise that Sporar has been attracting admiring glances, and they haven’t all come from Glasgow’s East End. Ukrainian giants Dinamo Kiev and English Championship side Bristol City have also been credited with an interest in the player.

That apparent interest has been cited by the owner of Slovan Bratislava as he tries to drive up the price for his biggest asset, telling Slovakian news outlet Sport24: “There are many people interested in Andraz and Celtic is the most aggressive yet.

“We have a meeting with the representatives of this club right now and we’ll see what happens.

“We will not sell him cheaply and we will not release him for two or three million euros.

“His quality not only corresponds to the Slovak League, but also to the European level. We saw it in the Europa League.

“An offer of 2.5 or 3 million Euros would be disastrous. His market value is much higher.”

If Celtic are to seal a deal for Sporar, it is likely that the final figure they would have to pay would be around £5million, a significant transfer fee for what essentially would be a backup striker, at least at first. The longer-term question may be whether Sporar has what it takes to succeed Edouard as Celtic’s main man if the French under-21 internationalist leaves in the summer.

Sporar made his way through the ranks of first Olimpija Ljubljana and then MNK Ljubljana, before a spell as a 17-year-old with Interblock convinced Olimpija to bring him back to the club as a senior player.

Initially played as a right winger, Sporar made an immediate impact, scoring on just his second appearance in the Prva Liga. In that debut season, he bagged 11 goals and five assists from just 34 games.

That led to him eventually establishing himself as the club’s main striker, and he started the 2013/14 season in prolific form yet again, only for the first of a series of injury problems befell him, derailing his campaign.

He returned at the start of the following season, netting 13 goals in 32 games, but it was after being appointed club captain the following summer that his career really started to take off.

Olimpija flew to the top of the Slovenian league on the back of 17 goals from Sporar in just 18 games, alerting Swiss side Basel to his precocious talent. They splashed out €3.5million to bring Sporar to St Jakob-Park in December 2015, a record transfer fee received by a Slovenian club, breaking the previous best when Jan Oblak moved to Benfica.

Big things were therefore expected of the then 21-year-old, but injuries would hugely affect his time in Switzerland and ultimately lead to a frustrating spell for both player and club.

He didn’t make his debut until February 2016, and in that game, he tore a tendon in his foot that would keep him out of action for eight months. Upon his return to action, he netted just one goal in 18 matches as he continued to struggle with injury problems and illness.

A loan spell with German side Arminia Bielefeld started promisingly as he netted the winner on his debut, but that was to prove the high point of his time in the 2.Bundesliga, and upon his return to Basel, it was made clear his future lay elsewhere.

Slovan Bratislava spotted enough in Sporar to spend £1.1million to bring him to Slovakia, the highest amount a club from that league had ever spent on a player, and he immediately thrived under the pressure of being a main striker once more. At 23, a return to form beckoned, scoring six goals in 16 games upon his arrival in Slovakia, hinting at the heroics to follow.

Last season he hit 29 goals in 30 games to help Slovan Bratislava to win the Slovakian league title, and after starting this season in similarly scintillating form, Sporar is again back on the radar of some of some bigger clubs across Europe.

As well as his goals, Sporar certainly seems to offer the physicality that Celtic manager Lennon has earmarked as being an important asset to add to his attack. Standing at six foot one, he is good in the air, but is perhaps more renowned for his sound technical ability rather than any real searing pace.

So, a relatively pricey purchase perhaps, but with his career back on track and his confidence high, Sporar may well be a sound investment provided he can steer clear of the injury problems that have held his career back in the past.