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Celtic's Neil Lennon eyes Gary Hooper replacement

Lennon eyes Hooper replacement
© Chris Clark / PA Photos
Celtic boss Neil Lennon is looking forward to finding a replacement for Norwich City-bound striker Gary Hooper.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has claimed that he is looking forward to finding a replacement for Gary Hooper.

Hooper completed his move to Norwich City earlier this afternoon on a four-year deal, leaving Celtic short of their top scorer for the past three seasons.

"It's a great challenge and one I look forward to, I'm excited about. No one gave us a prayer when we took the job on. We lost Aiden McGeady and Artur Boruc, Robbie Keane had left, as had Marc-Antoine Fortune and Diomansy Kamara, and we had to rebuild the squad," Lennon told the club's official website.

"It took us a few years to get to where we wanted to be but the core of the squad is still strong. I've still got Brown, Samaras, Forster, Ledley, Forrest, Kayal, Izaguirre, Lustig Matthews...I've got a very good squad and I want to add to that.

"We've brought in van Dijk, Balde and Mouyokolo, who we're pretty pleased with, but we will look to strengthen further and that's the objective now. We're trying to push the button on one or two players. We've brought three players in but obviously now a striker, or certainly an attacking area, is a priority for us coming into the next few weeks."

Celtic will face Elfsborg in the next qualifying stage of the Champions League after beating Cliftonville 5-0 on aggregate in the last round.

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Barney Corkhill
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Celtic forward Gary Hooper celebrates a goal against Dundee United on January 22, 2013
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