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Gloves are off in battle to be Lennon’s No 1
NEIL LENNON wants to add six new faces to his Celtic squad and is also on guard as clubs circle around key players Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor. Even as the Celtic manager escalates the process of placing his own stamp on a pool he guided to two trophies after assuming interim control from Brendan Rodgers, there are a few internal issues to address.
Speaking figuratively, one might call the goalkeeping position his No 1 priority.
Craig Gordon’s ongoing recovery from a knee injury means Scott Bain is likely to start the club’s first Champions League qualifier against FK Sarajevo next month — but Lennon insisted he is not yet clear on who will be first choice.
Bain emerged as Rodgers’ No1 after last season’s winter break and, within a fortnight of Lennon taking over, Gordon had succumbed to the injury which kept him out for the second half of the campaign.
Bain was a solid operator as the club clinched the treble Treble and, set in that context, Lennon believes the former Dundee keeper was entitled to feel hard done by when new Scotland boss Steve Clarke left him out in favour of David Marshall for the games against Cyprus and Belgium earlier this month.
The Celtic manager wants him to have another fight on his hands this season.
‘It’s up for grabs — a clean slate, a new season,’ said Lennon (below). ‘They’ll both be challenging for the jersey and that’s the way I want it.
‘Craig was out for a concerted period of time and we have to keep an eye on it with his injury record, but he’ll let us know.
‘He is doing modified training, he’s not back into full training. Hopefully when we get to Austria, he will get the green light. He was unlucky to lose the jersey in the first place.
‘And I think Scott has been unlucky as well, getting left out of the Scotland team. That is Clarkey’s prerogative, but Scott had played for Scotland and, importantly, played really well for
me at the back end of the season. So I think the two of them may have a few points to prove going forward, which is great. That’s what you want as a manager.’
Although Lennon inherited both goalkeepers, he actually played a hand in signing the pair.
In one of the odder Scottish transfers of recent seasons, Bain turned up for signing talks with Celtic wearing a Hibs gilet, Lennon having brought him to Easter Road on loan from Dundee just a few weeks earlier.
And, in 2014, it was Lennon who invited Gordon, now 36, to Parkhead for a trial just as his first reign as manager drew to a close.
‘Craig came in for a four or five-day trial,’ recalled Lennon. ‘I left, but Woodsy (goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods) had said he was good to go.
‘In fairness to Craig, it’s been a remarkable comeback for him to play this length of time after such a
horrendous injury, and to do it at such a high level. What he has done is amazing. ‘He had a course of injections in the knee over three or four weeks and it took a long time to settle, but he’s doing bits and pieces now on the training ground. Hopefully he’ll be full-time next week.’ It was a skeleton Celtic squad that reported back for pre-season training last Monday but Lennon will welcome his international players into the fold as the trip to Austria and Switzerland gets underway tomorrow. While he knows exactly what James Forrest and McGregor can offer, he has enjoyed getting to know more about a few players who were absent with injury in the latter part of the season gone. ‘Jack Hendry, Danny Arzani, Eboue Kouassi — the injury list was horrendous, so it’s great to see them getting back,’ he added. ‘Maryan Shved will also join us on Monday and then Leigh Griffiths is like having a new man in the building. He’s training very well just now, which we’re all pleased about.
‘So there are a few things I need to weigh up over the next few weeks.
‘These are guys I haven’t seen, through no fault of their own, but it does mean there’s a freshness there for me and I’m excited about a couple of them coming back. It’s a clean slate for them.’
With the £2.8million signing of David Turnbull from Motherwell nearing completion, Lennon hopes to bolster his squad with another three new faces before the team departs for Bosnia next month.
With Dedryck Boyata gone and Filip Benkovic back at parent club Leicester City, the recruitment of a centre-back remains a priority.
Jozo Simunovic and Kristoffer Ajer closed out the season in impressive style but neither Marvin Compper nor Hendry is regarded as first-team regular material.
Up front, too, there has been over-reliance on record signing Odsonne Edouard, who might not be a natural centre-forward anyway.
Griffiths’ return helps but Lennon can’t rely on a player who has been too often unavailable over the last couple of years, while January recruit Vakoun Issouf Bayo has made zero impression and is another who is recovering from injury.
‘I think I need another striker,’ admitted Lennon. ‘Bayo ruptured his hamstring on international duty in March and he’s back doing his rehabilitation work.
‘He’ll come to Austria but how much he participates in full training we don’t know yet.
‘Centre-half is a priority — we’re looking to strengthen there. We have a number of options that we’re running with at the minute.’
Although Simunovic came to the fore last term, Lennon conceded there remain issues regarding the management of a long-standing knee injury that has routinely prevented the player from featuring on artificial pitches.
‘We have to manage Jozo,’ said Lennon. ‘We know with his history he may not be able to do three games in a week. It will be Saturday to Saturday, and that’s fine.
‘We’ve modified his training and not only did he play the majority of games at the end of last season, he played very well.’
They’ll both be challenging for the jersey and that’s the way I want it