Neil Lennon believes Fraser Forster can fulfil his international ambitions by staying at Celtic.

The English goalkeeper is nearing the end of his second loan spell at the Parkhead club and the Hoops boss is keen to snap him up from Newcastle on a permanent deal.

Forster would have to consider whether remaining in the SPL would affect his chances of breaking into the England squad, which is a popular theory in Scotland.

However, Lennon –speaking in Drumpellier Country Park, Coatbridge, before joining Sir Ian Botham on a charity walk in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research – is confident the 24-year-old's ability would make him impossible to ignore.

"The exposure he gets up here is fantastic and if he is good enough he will get picked, and we all believe that he is good enough," said Lennon.

"He is only 24, so in terms of goalkeeping that is very, very young and he has got great potential and a great career ahead of him if he keeps doing the right things.

"We are hoping to speak to his agent and Fraser himself in the next few weeks.

"He knows we are very keen to get things tied up with him as he has had a fantastic two seasons here."

The Northern Irishman believes Celtic's SPL title-winning party at Kilmarnock last weekend could be the clincher in his bid to keep Forster.

The big Geordie cavorted around the pitch with his team-mates following the 6-0 win which confirmed his first league winner's medal, and he can look forward to a Scottish Cup double if Celtic get past Hearts in Sunday's semi-final at Hampden.

Lennon, though refused to talk about reports linking him with Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon saying: "I can't clarify that, no."

However, he is confident of keeping Forster.

"The feeling he may have got last Saturday...I think it would be very difficult for him to leave here now," he said.

"He is making all the right noises at the minute, so it is a case of getting things sorted out. We have been gradually speaking about things over the piece.

"We didn't want to put him under any pressure going for the championship, but now that's behind us, we will get the weekend out of the way and hopefully get things moving in the next couple of weeks."