Neil Lennon’s number one Celtic priority is intriguing

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Neil Lennon’s priority for Celtic this summer is a new striker.

That’s what the Celtic manager said at the end of last month with the season coming to a close (The Herald). Lennon stated his belief that the Hoops needed someone to help Odsonne Edouard, as he bemoaned the fact he had only been managing with one striker.

But fast forward over a month later, and a few questions come to mind when you think about this.

First off, is this still the case? Come the start of next season, Lennon won’t just be working with one striker. Instead, he’ll have both Leigh Griffiths and Vakoun Issouf Bayo there to help French Eddy. If Lennon’s argument is the fact that only Edouard was available, then it no longer stands up.

But there’s also the question of whether this could signify a change in our style. If you remember back to Lennon’s first period at the club, Celtic always played with two strikers up top. The partnership between Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes was a fine build from the Northern Irishman.

Granted, Lenny liked the lone-striker in Europe with Georgios Samaras as the target-man. But domestically, we pretty much consistently went with two up top.

The 4-2-3-1 came post-Lennon

That changed under Ronny Deila, who implemented the 4-2-3-1 system that saw a three-way battle between John Guidetti, Stefan Scepovic, and Griffiths respectively.

If Lennon is going into next season ready to mix things up and bring back the two up top, then yes, a new forward is most certainly necessary. Nobody can argue we would need cover for both striking positions, with just one more needed given Bayo’s availability and Griffiths’ return.

But Lennon has been sticking with the lone striker this season. He hasn’t looked to change anything, and that’s been shown with the same formation Brendan Rodgers used continuing to stay in place.

At times this season, the likes of Oliver Burke, James Forrest, and Scott Sinclair have all performed as either a lone striker or false nine. Lennon could be looking to halt any chance of that having to happen again.

But his striker search continues to be an intriguing thought ahead of the new season. Are we about to see a change to two up top? If not, it’ll be frustrating news for whoever Lennon sees as his third-choice striker. It would also be unnecessary too, as Celtic already have sufficient cover for one up top.

Lennon hasn’t revealed why else he wants another front-man. Hopefully, however, these questions get answered over the summer.