Celtic keen on Hibernian striker
After shipping out striker Marc-Antoine Fortune to English Premier League side West Bromwich Albion today, Celtic manager Neil Lennon has now turned his attention to another forward — Hibernian’s Anthony Stokes.
Lennon, apparently not content with the ten signings he has already made for the Scottish Premier League giants this summer, replied to a question from reporters regarding the possibility of signing Stokes. He told reporters that he was "an option and is a player we like." It was reported by The Scotsman that Lennon's £800,000 bid for the player had been rejected, but after generating £9.5m from the sale of Aiden McGeady to Spartak Moscow, he will definitely be able to improve on that offer.
This is not the first time that Stokes has been the subject of a bid for Celtic. The first occurred in 2007 when at English Premier League giants Arsenal, but he instead decided to join Sunderland. He did not enjoy the best of spells in the North East after scoring just five goals in 37 appearances. After joining the Hibernians last summer, the 22 year-old Stokes boosted his reputation after scoring 23 goals in 43 matches across all competitions. Stokes is currently rated at around £1m and was the Hibernian’s top scorer last season.
Celtic has already recruited ten players this summer as they bid to wrest back the SPL title from the grasp of Rangers. Goalkeeper Fraser Forster, left-back Charlie Mulgrew, central defender Danel Majstorovic, former Cardiff City midfielder Joe Ledley, right-back Cha Du-Ri, midfielder Biram Kayal, left-back Emilio Izaguirre, Mexico international midfielder Efrain Juarez, and strikers Daryl Murphy and Gary Hooper list the players who have joined Lennon’s squad.
Meanwhile, Lennon has also been strongly linked with another forward, £2.5m-rated Itay Shechter of Hapoel, Tel-Aviv. The Scottish Run reported that the 23 year-old Israel international is in talks with Celtic to join his compatriot Kayal in Glasgow.
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