NEIL LENNON has his No.1 signing target in his sights and is making every effort to get him on board before Thursday.

However, the Hoops boss is every bit as adamant that if the mystery striker's club tries to crank up the asking price just because they know Celtic took in £12.5million from the sale of Victor Wanyama, they will walk away from the table.

The Parkhead boss has already spent £4.6m on Amido Balde and Virgil van Dijk, while free agent Steven Mouyokolo has also earned a 12-month contract at the club.

But Lennon refuses to allow the fact they are cash rich or fighting the clock to add more faces before the signing deadlines for the upcoming Champions League qualifiers to allow anyone to try and take advantage of them.

"It's possible; it's business," admitted Lennon when asked if he was concerned selling clubs might try to crank up the price.

"But we haven't come across that scenario just yet. If clubs overprice their players, we will just stay out of it."

As always, Lennon and his scouting team have options on the positions they want to strengthen.

But finding another striker – whether Gary Hooper departs or not – is where the main focus lies. And they are getting close. So keeping the identity of the man they are closing in on remains essential for fear of alerting others to his availability.

It's a cloak-and-dagger tactic that has worked very well in the past – and Lennon hopes it will pay off again within the next few days.

If they get past Cliftonville tonight, Celtic have until Thursday night to register their squad for the third qualifying tie, where they are on course to meet Elfsborg.

However, one name can be added to the squad up until 24 hours before the first leg of their tie, which is expected to be a week tomorrow.

Lennon wants that to be a man who can be relied upon to find the net with the same kind of regularity that has made Hooper a £5m target for 
Norwich City and QPR.

The impasse over the transfer fee continues to leave Hooper in limbo, but he will be in tonight's squad after recovering from a groin injury.

And even if the 25-year-old remains at the club, Lennon's dip back into the market will go ahead.

He said: "We're looking to bring another striker in, anyway, to beef up the attack a little bit.

"Amido Balde started to show really good signs of what he could bring to the team against Brentford on Saturday.

"We were delighted with his performance. But we will look to add to that as well. I'm looking at a number of positions and hope to get over the line with maybe one or two. We do have a No.1 striker in mind, and even if Gary stays we would like to bring that player in. We've not really made great inroads in that, but we are trying our best."

All Lennon would reveal about his target is that he has been on their radar for quite some time.

"He's a player we have liked for a while, but it's not anyone who has been mentioned," a comment sure to leave Hoops fans even more puzzled.

Lennon is multi-tasking, with discussions with Hooper to establish his state of mind, and with another wanted Bhoy, Kelvin Wilson – the subject of an unsuccessful offer from Nottingham Forest – being added to the pursuit of new players, and selecting a side for tonight to finish off the job started against Cliftonville in Belfast last week.

Lennon joked that if the Northern Ireland champions become the first side ever to win 4-0 in a European match at Parkhead, his jacket would be on a shoogly peg.

But so would a few others, especially as he plans to field a very strong side to get more of his senior players up to match speed.

Still missing from action will be Charlie Mulgrew, Adam Matthews – both having been sidelined with hamstring injuries – and Joe Ledley, who has been out with a groin strain.

All three are back in training but this game comes too soon for them.

Van Dijk is also still missing as he waits for the broken bone in his right foot to mend, which will take around four weeks. It will be the first chance for the Celtic support to see this season's side in action at Parkhead, and the biggest cheer is sure to be reserved for Hooper.

Lennon is happy to count him in and said: "For the time being, anyway, he is still a Celtic player. He is fit now, so it is a great addition to have for the squad for tonight.

"You never say never. If things are not agreed, or don't go through, he will be here for another year, anyway."

The longer he remains, the more opportunity Lennon will have to try to convince him he doesn't really want to leave, though he accepts the striker's head might already be elsewhere.

"I'll just make it clear he is welcome here and we want him to stay," said Lennon.

"It's a difficult situation, but these things are thrown at you now and again and we're dealing with them as best we can."

Wilson is a different case as the defender still has two years of his current deal to run.

And Lennon is confident he will not be distracted by the interest from former club Nottingham Forest.

"I'm not expecting him to go anywhere," is the manager's assessment.

What Lennon can't be so sure about is whether or not Mo Bangura will heed his advice and not play against Celtic should they meet Elfsborg in the next round of the Champions League qualifiers.

The manager's mood appears to have lost some of its abrasiveness from when the draw first threw up the dilemma for the loan striker.

But Lennon's position 
remains rock solid. "We have a good relationship with Elfsborg," he insisted. "But we'd prefer if he didn't play, and I'm not going to change my stance on that.

"He is our player, despite what their manager is saying, and we have spent a significant amount of money on him. We have loaned him out to get game experience.

"But it is an impossible situation for the player, and we just hope common sense prevails.

"I remember Jim O'Brien was on loan at Dunfermline when we played them in the cup final and we made it clear to him he wasn't to play."