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Celtic manager Neil Lennon determined to keep hold of Southampton target Gary Hooper
After rejecting two bids for the goalscorer, the 40-year-old has said that he would need "proper money" if he is to sell his top players in the January transfer window
14 Jan 2012 20:25:00
By John Stammers
Celtic manager Neil Lennon has insisted that he will not let his best players leave the club for less than they are worth, jokingly comparing goalscorer Gary Hooper's value to that of Liverpool's Andy Carroll.
The SPL leaders have rejected two bids from Southampton for the striker, who proved his worth by scoring his 16th goal of the season as Celtic remained two points clear of Rangers with a 2-1 win against Dundee United.
Hooper played in the Championship for Scunthorpe United when Carroll was in the same division with Newcastle, outscoring the striker before moving to Celtic for around £2 million in 2010.
When asked about Hooper's value, Lennon joked "£35m", equal to what Liverpool paid for the England forward.
He told reporters: "I don't draw comparisons, they are two totally different types of players and the market at that time was different.
"Chelsea spent a lot of money on Torres and Liverpool had money to spend. I think Andy Carroll is a very good player. Whether people think the fee is justified [or not] it's not the player's fault.
"But we look at that, we look at some of the other prices being bandied about.
"When we have players like Ki Sung-yueng, Beram Kayal, Emilio Izaguirre, Hooper and James Forrest, they are not going to go cheap, that's for sure. They will have to pay proper money.
"I don't need to speak to the board, they know my position. Everyone has their price. We are not a selling club but everyone has their price.
"The problem is if we get a knockout price, will we have time to replace someone like Gary Hooper? Trust me, they are hard to find.
"I have spoken to Gary, I am keeping him up to date. I think he is very happy here. I think Celtic and Gary suit each other, he is a Celtic type of player, strong, great finisher, great feet and his goal record speaks for itself."
Some of the Parkhead crowd were relieved at the final whistle after what they believed to be a narrow win, but Lennon thought that his side were always in control.
He said: "We dominated the first half and started the second half well.
"Dusan Pernis made a couple of very good saves to keep Dundee United in it and then they scored a wonder strike out of nothing and sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say 'good goal'.
"It was fraught for a while and Fraser Forster made a really good save from Jon Daly but Georgios Samaras missed two really good chances to kill the game off.
"I am not going to be critical of the players because of the pitch, but overall I am really pleased."
United boss Peter Houston watched the game from the stands as he served the first of a two-game touchline ban for criticising officials in the recent defeat by Aberdeen. He was disappointed by his side's lack of crosses into the Celtic box during good spells after the break.
He said: "I am really disappointed that we didn't take something from the game.
"Celtic will say they were good goals but they were soft goals, especially the second one, we switched off at a corner and that was a left down.
"Sitting in the stand, the Celtic fans were not pleased that we probably had more of the ball in the second half.
"Jon's header was right at their keeper. If Jon gets it into any corner at all, it is two all. Don't get me wrong, Celtic created chances, they always do. But when we got the ball wide we didn't get it in the box.
"I wish we would have done it more and we might have caused them more problems."
| Bet: | Returns: | Dundee Utd XI £120.00 | Draw £12.00 | Celtic £45.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Dundee Utd XI £150.00 | Draw £14.00 | Celtic £36.00 |
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| Bet: | Returns: | Dundee Utd XI £50.00 | Draw £37.50 | Celtic £16.70 |
|
The SPL leaders have rejected two bids from Southampton for the striker, who proved his worth by scoring his 16th goal of the season as Celtic remained two points clear of Rangers with a 2-1 win against Dundee United.
Hooper played in the Championship for Scunthorpe United when Carroll was in the same division with Newcastle, outscoring the striker before moving to Celtic for around £2 million in 2010.
When asked about Hooper's value, Lennon joked "£35m", equal to what Liverpool paid for the England forward.
He told reporters: "I don't draw comparisons, they are two totally different types of players and the market at that time was different.
"Chelsea spent a lot of money on Torres and Liverpool had money to spend. I think Andy Carroll is a very good player. Whether people think the fee is justified [or not] it's not the player's fault.
"But we look at that, we look at some of the other prices being bandied about.
"When we have players like Ki Sung-yueng, Beram Kayal, Emilio Izaguirre, Hooper and James Forrest, they are not going to go cheap, that's for sure. They will have to pay proper money.
"I don't need to speak to the board, they know my position. Everyone has their price. We are not a selling club but everyone has their price.
"The problem is if we get a knockout price, will we have time to replace someone like Gary Hooper? Trust me, they are hard to find.
"I have spoken to Gary, I am keeping him up to date. I think he is very happy here. I think Celtic and Gary suit each other, he is a Celtic type of player, strong, great finisher, great feet and his goal record speaks for itself."
Some of the Parkhead crowd were relieved at the final whistle after what they believed to be a narrow win, but Lennon thought that his side were always in control.
He said: "We dominated the first half and started the second half well.
"Dusan Pernis made a couple of very good saves to keep Dundee United in it and then they scored a wonder strike out of nothing and sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say 'good goal'.
"It was fraught for a while and Fraser Forster made a really good save from Jon Daly but Georgios Samaras missed two really good chances to kill the game off.
"I am not going to be critical of the players because of the pitch, but overall I am really pleased."
United boss Peter Houston watched the game from the stands as he served the first of a two-game touchline ban for criticising officials in the recent defeat by Aberdeen. He was disappointed by his side's lack of crosses into the Celtic box during good spells after the break.
He said: "I am really disappointed that we didn't take something from the game.
"Celtic will say they were good goals but they were soft goals, especially the second one, we switched off at a corner and that was a left down.
"Sitting in the stand, the Celtic fans were not pleased that we probably had more of the ball in the second half.
"Jon's header was right at their keeper. If Jon gets it into any corner at all, it is two all. Don't get me wrong, Celtic created chances, they always do. But when we got the ball wide we didn't get it in the box.
"I wish we would have done it more and we might have caused them more problems."
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