‘He was that good’…Neil Lennon names the one Celtic player he couldn’t leave out of his team

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Neil Lennon has been fortunate to manage many great players across his two spells as Celtic manager.

Lennon took 10 minutes to decide on signing Gary Hooper and also brought a whole host of talents to Celtic Park, who all went on to be a success.

He’s now trying to replicate those feats with Dunfermline in the Scottish Championship and has aspirations of returning to Parkhead in the opposition dugout.

At Dunfermline, Lennon is hoping to unearth young gems in the side that can be bought cheaply and sold for profit.

That was a model he followed with the Hoops and now, he has just gone on to make a big-money move to the Premier League.

• READ MORE: Celtic handed insulting ‘lower league’ verdict after Jeremie Frimpong completes Liverpool transfer

Neil Lennon waxes lyrical about Jeremie Frimpong’s Celtic days

In need of a right-back, Lennon decided to part with £300,000 to sign Jeremie Frimpong from Manchester City.

Frimpong has just banked Celtic over £5m after his recent move to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen – the Bundesliga outfit that prized him away from Glasgow.

The Netherlands international was a mainstay in the defence for Lennon’s second stint as Celtic manager and the former midfielder revealed his impact was so impressive that he couldn’t afford to leave him out of the starting XI.

He told the Daily Record: “I couldn’t keep Frimpong out. He was that good. We had good players at the club at the time, but once we saw him training, he was just taking our breath away.

“He’s gone on to do amazing things in Germany to the point where he’s now signing for the Premier League champions.”

Jeremie Frimpong is full of love for Neil Lennon

Frimpong is a humble professional and someone that is always keen to acknowledge his roots.

He left with everyone’s well wishes when he signed for Leverkusen and the full-back credits Lennon for helping him get to where he is today.

Speaking to Rising Ballers, he said: “My time at Celtic was amazing. I won everything there. There was this manager called Neil Lennon. I love him till this day. He loves me. Our relationship was like father and son.

“Sometimes the players would say go and speak to your dad and things like that. After we won the cup I think I ran to him and we both started laughing.”