CELTIC have been told to pay up if they want to land Peterborough’s 28-goal striker Ivan Toney. The League One hit man is reportedly a target of Neil Lennon’s side should Odsonne Edouard be poached away in the transfer window.

The club’s chairman has said, as reported by the Scottish Sun, that Celtic and other clubs won’t get a bargain if they are to seal the signature of Toney following Peterborough’s failure to get promoted to the Championship.

Toney was the subject of an £8m bid from Brentford in January but the club held firm as they chased promotion. Club Chairman, Darragh MacAnthony, confirmed that he would be selling Toney following Posh narrowly missing out on playoff places after the League One season was curtailed.

“We had multiple clubs try and buy him in January, we promised Ivan if we weren’t in the Championship next season we would sell him.

“We don’t sell our players cheap, the pandemic won’t affect that.

“ I can envisage he will probably go to the top two or three Championship clubs if not the bottom ten Premier League clubs.

“I think some of the Premier League clubs won’t do as much international shopping and might go domestic, and Ivan’s physicality is suited to playing at the highest level.

“ He’s got physicality, pace and character – Newcastle should probably never have sold him to us. But we spent a lot of money buying him.

“He’s been the best player in League One this season, hopefully he will get his golden boot.”

Celtic are often used a stalking horse by clubs keen to offload their stars and drive up interest in their talents. Celtic, however, are unlikely to pay £8m for a League One player whilst Odsonne Edouard is still at the club.