CELTIC have hit a stumbling block in their pursuit of Latvian striker Artjoms Rudnevs as Hamburg refuse to lower their £4.5million asking price.

And Neil Lennon's hopes of bringing the powerful 25-year-old on board before the signing deadline for the next round of the Champions League qualifiers looks destined to fail.

The Hoops boss is also considering moving for Tunisian hitman, Saber Khelifa, who, like Rudnevs, carries a potent goal threat.

Khelifa – who is 26 and has won 22 caps for his country – currently leads the line for Evian in the French league.

And he is understood to be available for considerably less than the money Hamburg are demanding for Rudnevs.

The German club paid £3.5m for him and believe he is now worth one million more after scoring 12 goals in his debut season in the Bundesliga.

While Lennon is intent on adding to his strike force, he knows he can't burst the buying structure in place at the club.

Even though it has been confirmed that Celtic earned £22.2m from last season's Champions League run, and have just banked £12.5m from the sale of Victor Wanyama, the club refuse to pay significantly over their valuation for a player.

Despite his serious interest in both Rudnevs and Khelifa, Lennon has not given up hope of persuading Gary Hooper to sign a new contract and stay at the club.

He spoke to the man being targeted by QPR and Norwich before last night's Champions League qualifier against Cliftonville, which the Hoops won 2-0 to proceed to the next round where they will face Elfsborg.

And Lennon is ready to pull out all of the stops to convince Hooper he can realise his ambitions at Parkhead.

However, this has to be done within the wage structure in place at the club, and a lot more serious negotiations will have to take place before Hooper's future is decided one way or another.

Lennon has also sat down with Kelvin Wilson to gauge the defender's reaction to Celtic's decision to reject Nottingham Forest's £1.5m offer to take him back south.

Hooper will start against Borussia Munchengladbach in Saturday's friendly at Parkhead, to set him up for Wednesday's first-leg tie against Elfsborg.

Lennon said of their build-up: "A week is a long time in pre-season.

"We now have time to recover and get another game under their belt this weekend.

"The players know what is at stake, and they are okay at the minute."

Celtic started selling tickets for next week's home tie immediately after they disposed of Cliftonville, and Lennon predicts it will be a much stiffer test for his side in the next round.

He said: "Judging by Helsingborgs, who we played last year, if we use them as our barometer, this will be a big step up.

"I'm going to have Elfsborg watched at the weekend, and we will try to cover everything we possibly can between now and next Wednesday."