NEIL Lennon is confident the chance to help Celtic make history and complete 10-In-A-Row next season will enable him to lure players to Parkhead this summer despite the uncertainty the Covid-19 pandemic will create in the transfer market.
And Lennon, who will be without Jonny Hayes and Jozo Simunovic next term after the Glasgow club announced yesterday that both will be leaving, is also hopeful that Odsonne Edouard will remain in Scotland for another campaign.
“I am in regular contact with Nick Hammond (head of football operations) and he has staff working 24/7 on looking at players,” he said. “It is difficult as there are no games and you can’t go and see players live. But we have an extensive list on each position and where we can improve.
“I am happy with the core of the squad and I don’t think we need to make any radical changes to the squad. Our big assets are on long-term contracts and the motivation of the 10 might be a big selling point to bring people in.
“We don’t know what the landscape is going to be like in terms of the transfer market or how long it will be open for or what clubs will have to spend.
“We are taking it day by day right now and trying not to predict things as it changes all the time. It won’t impact us in what we are trying to do for next season.
“Everyone will start from the same position but there are always deals to be done. Every club in Europe will be impacted by this one way or another. We will have to cut our cloth accordingly and see what is out there.
“There might be good value for money, or free transfers or loans. If we can get Mohamed Elyounoussi and Fraser Forster back that wouldn’t take too much integration. Boys like (Christopher) Jullien, (Greg) Taylor and (Jeremie) Frimpong have had a season here now as well.”
Celtic striker Edouard is interesting Bundesliga clubs in Germany, where they have started playing competitively again, but Lennon is optimistic he can retain his services.
“It is inevitable there will be speculation surrounding Odsonne because of the player and talent he is,” he said. “He hasn’t said anything to me about wanting to go. Whether that changes over the next while, we don’t know.
“But we have him on a really good contract and we are in a strong position to rebuff any interest in him. We don’t want to sell him. We are happy with him and he seems quite happy here.
“We are going for 10-In-A row and that might be a big motivating factor for him to stay. We don’t know what the market value is going to be for all players and we won’t know until leagues are finished and we get an idea how long the window will be.”
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