TONY MOWBRAY today confirmed he is hoping the lure of playing for Celtic and a boss he knows will make Marc-Antoine Fortune turn his back on substantially better offers to move to England and become his first signing at Parkhead.

TONY MOWBRAY today confirmed he is hoping the lure of playing for Celtic and a boss he knows will make Marc-Antoine Fortune turn his back on substantially better offers to move to England and become his first signing at Parkhead.

The Hoops boss expects the Nancy striker to give him his answer within the next 24 hours, but confirmed alternatives are already in the pipeline if the answer is no.

Mowbray has been impressed by the quality of the players he has inherited from previous boss Gordon Strachan and intends to give them all the chance to show what they can do before deciding if he needs to make any wholesale changes to the squad.

But, with Shunsuke Nakamura already away and Mowbray confirming that Paul Hartley and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink are not being offered new deals, there is already a need to recruit at least three new faces.

Fortune is the No.1 target and a fee has been agreed with Nancy for the £3.8million-rated French Guinean who spent the second half of last season on loan at West Brom playing under Mowbray.

The spell alerted other Premiership clubs, including West Ham and Hull, to what he could offer and they are providing the opposition to Celtic in the race for his signature.

With more cash to splash than them in terms of wages, Mowbray admitted the Hoops are at a distinct disadvantage.

But he remains hopeful that, for purely footballing reasons, Fortune will decide he wants to be re-united with his former boss.

He said: "Marc is a player I like. My advantage is I have worked with him, I know his strengths and weaknesses.

"Premier League clubs who are chasing him don't know him, or his character or his personality.

"But everything is in the balance. The Premier League financially is on a level different from the SPL, yet this club is on a stature far greater than a lot of Premier League clubs.

"We have a huge pulling power from the support this club possesses, and from the history of this club.

"To play for a club fighting for championships and hoping to compete in the Champions League is sometimes more of a draw than taking the money and fighting against relegation.

"These are the decisions players make sometimes. They make a financial decision or they make a football decision and we all have to abide by that.

"Marc does have choices, and that is because of his talent. Whatever he decides, good luck to him."

Mowbray believes that a conclusion is finally set to be reached over this drawn-out saga and said: "I think it will happen naturally over the next day or two.

"I will either be sitting watching him shaking someone's hand at a Premier Legaue club, or you will all be coming back here in a few days and meeting the guy for yourself."

As he hopes to see Fortune arrive, Mowbray conceded Hartley and Vennegoor have already gone through the exit door at the club for the final time.

The manager confirmed he had spoken to Hartley on the phone and then met him face-to-face.

While he was impressed by the Scotland midfielder, a decision was reached that it was best for club and player if they parted company.

Mowbray said: "I had a good, long conversation with Paul, and the outcome is that he won't be offered a contract. We both decided it is best he gets on with career elsewhere and that we try and replace and move on."

Vennegoor has had no chat with the new boss, but the Dutch striker is also now free to find another club.

"I have had no contact with Jan," confirmed Mowbray. "He is out of contract and free to seek other employment. I'm pretty sure that is what he will be doing at the moment."

Mowbray has not given up hope that Stephen McManus and Scott Brown will have recovered from their operations on knee and ankle respectively to be ready for the Champions League qualifiers at the end of the month, but reiterated that neither man would be pushed.

He was also reluctant to discuss whether or not McManus would retain the captaincy and said: "I'm two days into training. I am reading and learning and listening to the players and reading their minds. I will make those sort of decisions as we move on. I don't think there's any reason for me to sit here today and make that an issue."