Neil Lennon: 75% of players linked with Celtic are nonsense

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Celtic manager Neil Lennon has stated that 75% of players linked with the club this summer have been nonsense.

The Hoops desperately need to strengthen in several key areas ahead of next season. Big first-team departures in the form of Filip Benkovic and Dedryck Boyata will be difficult to replace, but it should be a priority.

Thanks to the big injection of quality needed, it’s brought out plenty of stories. The likes of David Turnbull, Rakeem Harper, Luca Connell, Tomas Kalas, Daniel Sturridge, and George Baldock have all been linked with the club. It’s a sign of just how crazy the window can get, considering it’s only June 5th.

But Lennon has moved to calm down any speculation at the moment. Speaking in the Daily Record, he warned that the majority of players linked with the club won’t be coming.

“It may be a case of players coming back in bits and pieces but that’s the reality of it and we understand that. There are far more games and with the season we’ve just had,the guys finished on May 25 with us and then are going away with their countries.

“They could then be playing Champions League qualifiers in early July. It’s hugely difficult but if you can get players in early enough, you can subsidise that. That’s what we are looking to do at the minute.

“We’ll do our business as quietly and as quickly as we can. There’s a lot of speculation and conjecture, we get linked with a lot of players, like we always do, but 75 percent of them are total nonsense.”

Lennon will know who he wants

You have to imagine that the Celtic manager’s target list has already been drawn up. Lennon will have the players he knows he wants being scouted and worked on as we speak. If he doesn’t, then that would be a concern.

But it’s a boost to hear that Lennon is looking for the club to work quickly on this. As the Celtic manager has said, we don’t have a lot of time before we seriously get into the nitty-gritty of the Champions League qualifiers.

Celtic’s first pre-season game is also late this month on June 26th. From now, that match against Pinkafield in the first friendly of the camp is just three weeks from today. Ideally, we would have a couple of players on board by then.

But, knowing Celtic’s past in the transfer window, we’ll likely be working right up until the final day to get our targets in. For some reason that seems to be the norm. It would, however, be ideal getting deals done as quickly as possible.

It’s difficult to say what names we should put a cross through. Clearly, according to Lennon, it’s the majority of them. But as it stands, with so many positions still to be strengthened, expect the rumour mill to keep flowing.