LENNY’S SALES TALK

NEIL LENNON admits he will have to be patient before he brings in new players to boost Celtic’s quest for their tenth successive title.

Mohamed Elyounoussi has returned from Southampton for a second loan stint and the Norwegian international left-sided raider is the only new Bhoy in the manager’s summer rebuild.

Lennon has lost Craig Gordon, Jonny Hayes and Jozo Simunovic at the end of their contracts and there is still speculation surrounding the future of Fraser Forster.

The Hoops gaffer has acknowledged he needs to strengthen a number of positions and, speaking to the Sky Sports News, said: “We won’t probably get a fair idea of the transfer market until the Premier League and other main leagues in Europe finish.

“It’s been predominantly business as usual. We’ve got a lot of options for different positions.

“The difficult thing is we can’t look at players live at the minute, so a lot of it is done with analysis and stats.

HOLD ON A MO…Mohamed Elyounoussi is back for a second stint.

“Ideally, you want to go and see a player and see his strengths and weaknesses, but that’s the only difference, really.

“There’s been an amount of work done in the background from the recruitment side of things.

“We’ve got Mo Elyounoussi back which is a big plus for us, so there’s a continuity there and we’ll look to add one or two to the group.”

Lennon, of course, spent £5.5million during the winter transfer window to bring in Polish striker Patryck Klimala and Ivorian midfielder Ismaila Soro.

The forward made only four appearances – three as substitute – and is still awaiting his first goal for the club. The anchorman, who was signed from the Israeli league, has yet to make his debut.

The Parkhead boss had hoped to utilise the skills of the 21-year-old double-act on the run-in to the season, but, of course, his plans were scuppered when football went into cold storage in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the enterprising pair will get an opportunity to show the qualities that enticed the Irishman into buying them in the new campaign.