NEIL LENNON has stepped aside from the race to sign two more players this week.

The Celtic manager is happy to leave the pursuit to chief executive, Peter Lawwell, and chief scout, John Park, as he concentrates all of his attention on Wednesday’s Champions League play-off tie against Shakhter Karagandy.

Finnish striker, Teemu Pukki, is the man the Hoops are close to bringing aboard. Schalke’s general manager, Horst Heldt, confirmed they are negotiating, but added: “Celtic are very persistent in trying to make the deal happen.

“It is open for a transfer, but not until our Champions League tie is over.”

So, Lennon will have to wait a little longer to get his man.

“We are hoping to get a signing done, and it’s a player who has been mentioned for a while,” said Lennon as he attempted to keep his cards close to his chest.

“We have another player’s representatives coming in today for talks, and we are hoping we will get a deal done there as well.” Schalke rejected Celtic’s initial offer for Pukki, not least because they are short of attacking options after their main striker, Klass-Jan Huntelaar, was sidelined for two months with knee ligament damage.

But Celtic have refused to drop their interest in him, along with Heerenveen’s Alfred Finnbogason, who was also the subject of an earlier bid.

Though any new signing would be ineligible for the play-off tie against Shakhter as the registration deadline passed a week ago, new Uefa rules would allow Pukki – who came on as sub for Schalke in the Champions League play-off against PAOL Thessalonika – to play for the Hoops in the group stage of either this competition or the Europa League.

They have until September 2 to register players for the next round.

Lennon has also confirmed the other player whose representatives are scheduled to arrive at Parkhead for talks today is a midfielder.

But he will be content to be updated as to any more developments as he is focused on Wednesday which could unlock another £15million cheque if they can turn around the 2-0 deficit.

His first call today was to the medical room to get an update on the condition of the clutch of players currently receiving treatment.

Lennon said: “The squad is decimated, particularly in the forward areas. We are hoping at least two of them will be fit, Georgios Samaras and Kris Commons. There may also be a chance for James Forrest and Derk Boerrigter.

“Anthony Stokes has a calf strain and we will need to see how that is.”

The manager has all but given up on Beram Kayal recovering from the groin injury which forced him off against Inverness, and is also eager to hear the extent of the hamstring issue which saw Virgil van Dijk leave the field in the second half.