Celtic will allow Gary Hooper to decide which club he joins after Norwich today matched the £5million offer the Hoops had accepted from QPR for the striker.

The Canaries’ 1th-hour re-entry to the race for the 25-year-old hitman appears to have caught Loftus Road boss Harry Redknapp off guard.

He had been bullish about capturing Hooper, and made very positive noises about meeting the player’s personal terms and
having him to score the goals to fire QPR back to the Premier League in one season.

However, Norwich - who had a series of offers for Hooper turned down by Celtic in January - remained in contact with the Parkhead club.

And, when they finally agreed to meet the asking price - which is £500,000 more than Chris Hughton’s club were willing to pay six months ago - they were given permission to open negotiations with Hooper’s representatives.

Norwich now hope to agree terms today with the man who has scored 82 goals since arriving at Parkhead three years ago from Scunthorpe for £2.4m, and have him undergo a medical before concluding the deal.

A move to the Premier League has always been Hooper’s first choice as he believes that will be the best route to the England call up which just evaded him last season when he was scoring domestically and in the Champions League for Celtic.

Having to spend at least one season in the Championship with QPR was the major stumbling block in Redknapp’s attempt to sign him.

However, QPR are not backing out of the race to capture the striker, and could return with improved personal terms in an attempt to gazump Norwich.

Celtic have stepped aside to allow Hooper to make the final call, and he will leave Parkhead with their best wishes.

They have tried repeatedly to persuade him to sign a new contract - as recently as this week, Neil Lennon made another attempt to talk him into staying.

Celtic were prepared to increase his terms significantly, but were not willing to rip up their own wage structure.

The Hoops are continuing in their quest to bring in another striker, but are being thwarted by fact many clubs in Europe are not looking to do business because they have just returned from their summer break and are still assessing who they want to to keep and who is surplus to requirements.

Hamburg’s Artjoms Rudnevs was top of Lennon’s hit list, but the price tag of £4.5m. and the fact the Latvian wants to remain in the Bundesliga have combined to make this move unlikely to happen.

Evian’s Saber Khelifa is another option which Lennon is seriously considering.

With the Tunisian in the final year of his contract at the French club, where he has yet to report for pre-season training after a dispute with his employers, Khelifa does at least appear to be available.

Lennon is also looking for cover at left back and for a left-sided attacking player.

Reports in Italy claim the Hoops are considering 25 year-old Paraguayan left winger, Marcelo Estigarribia.

He has just completed a season-long loan at Sampdoria, who have decided not to exercise the £4.7m option to buy him from Deportivo Maldonado.

Celtic have until 11pm tonight to register their squad for the Champions League qualifiers against Elfsborg.

But Lennon can add one more player before the final cut off at 11pm on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Hoops boss has told Joe Ledley, Anthony Stokes and Georgios Samaras - all of who are in the final year of their contracts - that he wants to offer them new deals which will keep them at the club for another three or four years.

However, Lennon has warned that, because of the hectic action in the transfer market and the heavy schedule of Champions League qualifiers they are playing, it could be the end of next month before he can sit down and deal them in.