STAYING POWER

Lennon vows to keep key men as window closes

NEIL LENNON insists he’s determined not to lose any of his big players in what he predicts will be a ‘fraught’ final week of the transfer window.

They include Odsonne Edouard, who started on the bench in yesterday’s 3-0 win over Hibernian which the Celtic boss described as his team’s best display of the season.

There has been speculation over possible bids for the Frenchman from Aston Villa, Birmingham and Crystal Palace, but Lennon warned predators the champions are in no rush to sell the striker, Kristoffer Ajer or Olivier Ntcham.

Speaking after £5million forward Albian Ajeti limped off with a hamstring strain after scoring his fifth goal for the club, the Northern Irishman admitted he still wants one new face, with a final bid for Charlton left-back Alfie Doughty set to go

in this week. Now in daily dialogue with head of recruitment Nick Hammond, he said: ‘We are spinning a few plates on a few players. We want to add maybe just one to the squad and keep everyone else. ‘It’s going to be fraught because it’s the last week of the window. There could be a lot of people scrambling for players and we are not immune to that, but we don’t want to sell. ‘We don’t want to sell anyone — and I think we are quite strong on that at the minute.’ Benched after an under-par display in the Europa League win over FC Riga, Edouard replaced Ajeti when the Swiss international pulled up in 36 minutes after scoring Celtic’s second goal. Ryan Christie was also replaced by impressive new signing David Turnbull for the second half after receiving a blow to the stomach. Lennon, whose team face Sarajevo in Bosnia on Thursday in their Europa League play-off, said: ‘Ajeti looks like a hamstring strain, so hopefully that will only be a few weeks. He’s not had a lot of football in the last year and you can’t just throw him into game after game. ‘We try to do it bit by bit, getting him fitter — and then something like that happens. ‘It’s unfortunate because he is in great goalscoring form and we will miss him. ‘Christie will be fine, he should be okay. He was almost like winded by an elbow on the stomach.’ Winger James Forrest is almost certainly out of Scotland’s Euro 2020 play-off with Israel on October 8 after pulling up in Latvia last Thursday. ‘He has a scan tomorrow,’ added Lennon.‘But I would doubt very much he would make the Scotland game.’ Lennon was full of praise for his side after Callum McGregor opened the scoring and Mohamed Elyounoussi justified his selection up front with a late third. ‘Albian and Moi are good players, so I have no qualms about leaving Odsonne out and giving him a break,’ said the Celtic boss. ‘He has not been himself — and he knows that. But today, for the length of time he was on, he was great. ‘Elyounoussi had another very good game. I am delighted with him as well.’