NEIL LENNON has confirmed that Celtic have begun their plans for next season in terms of recruitment. The Celtic manager has already allowed Jozo Simunovic, Jonny Hayes and Eboue Kouassi to leave the club as the Scottish Champions looks to become the first Scottish club to win 10-in-a-row.

Speaking to Celtic TV, Lennon confirmed that he, John Kennedy, Nick Hammond and Peter Lawwell had all been meeting with the aim of strengthening ahead of next season but that there was no updates in terms of names but ‘inroads’ were being made.

“In terms of the recruitment processes, they’re all under way now.

“In terms of adding to the squad and talking to clubs, again, it’s sort of early days but we’ve made tentative inroads as regards that as well.”

Celtic will look to resign Moi Elyounoussi and Fraser Forster – with the Englishman surely a priority as the club look to continue their domination of the Scottish game. Forster’s return on loan saw him reclaim his spot as club number one ahead of Craig Gordon and Scott Bain.

The manager also discussed how the players would begin their preparations when the club were allowed to return to training – following Coronavirus tests and initially in small groups but Lennon is glad to be back training.

“It’ll be groups of five, so we’ll have two groups in the morning, two groups at lunchtime and two in the afternoon, so we’ll get to see them all.

“There will be certain protocols – for example, they can’t go in the building, so everything will be done outside, which is fine, and we’re just delighted that we can have sort of semblance of training.

“So, although we’ve got an 11 June start, hopefully within a week or two, we can start training in bigger groups and all that is for the process of getting ready for the first week in August.”

🍀🟢 “This is momentous. It comes round once in a lifetime and I want this generation of supporters to be a huge part of that, as they always are." 🙌

🎥 Exclusive @CelticTV interview with our #9INAROW winning manager, Neil Lennon.

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— Celtic Football Club (from 🏡) (@CelticFC) June 5, 2020