Celtic are prepared to go toe-to-toe with Hull City this summer to land flamboyant playmaker George Boyd.
The 27-year-old, who is currently on loan at the KC Stadium from Peterborough United, is high on the newly-crowned SPL champions’ wanted list.
Capable of playing on the left wing or in behind the strikers, Celtic manager Neil Lennon believes Boyd can add flair and ingenuity to his current squad.
Target: George Boyd currently is on loan at Hull from Peterborough
Breakdown: Boyd was on the verge of joining Nottingham Forest in January before the deal collapsed
And despite Championship side Hull being four points clear in their bid to join Cardiff in the Premiership, Lennon will not give up the fight to land the player on a Bosman even if Steve Bruce’s side achieve their goal of promotion.
Celtic believe the lure of Champions League football, plus a salary that wouldn’t be curtailed by a transfer fee, could yet see the player ply his trade in Glasgow’s east end.
Boyd, who earned his first full Scotland cap against Serbia last month, is renowned for his entertaining style as well as his goalscoring ability and creativity.
A product of Charlton Athletic’s youth system, he had to drop down to the Conference National to make his mark in the game with Stevenage Borough.
You're welcome here: Neil Lennon wants to bring the Scottish international to Celtic
After five seasons there he left to join then League Two Peterborough United for a fee of £260,000 and helped the Posh to two successive promotions.
He spent the latter half of season 2009-10 on loan at Nottingham Forest and almost signed there on a permanent basis in January under Alex McLeish, only for the move to mysteriously collapse.
Frozen out of manager Darren Ferguson’s plans over his refusal to extend his deal beyond the summer, Boyd then joined promotion-chasing Hull in the January window and has scored four times so far.
Celtic will expect to face stiff competition from Hull, however, after Bruce recently described Boyd as the best natural talent he had worked with.