Celtic made a massive profit on Victor Wanyama earlier this decade.
Neil Lennon has moved to taper expectations of Nick Hammond after officially joining Celtic this week, admitting it’s unlikely that he’ll be uncovering a new Victor Wanyama.
The 52-year-old was appointed as the Hoops’ Head of Football Operations, taking over from Lee Congerton – now at Leicester City with Brendan Rodgers – as Head of Recruitment.
Hammond worked in conjunction with the Celtic manager over transfers during the summer transfer window, before earning a long-term role at Parkhead.
The former Reading and West Bromwich Albion guru has big boots to fill – not strictly in regards to Congerton, whose transfer record in Glasgow was rather hit and miss, but prior to that the Bhoys had been successful in discovering gems and selling them for big profits, mainly during John Park’s reign as Chief Scout.
In 2013, Celtic sold Wanyama to Southampton for £12.5 million, having only originally paid around £900,000 in signing him from Beerschot two years earlier.
And Lennon does not believe that the modern game makes it easy to uncover more Wanyama-like bargains.
He told The Scottish Sun: “Is it more difficult nowadays to find the likes of a Wanyama? I think it is, just through competition and the money out there.
“But Nicky is excited and very enthusiastic about it, so hopefully we’ll have some good players to look at between now and January.
“If he sees someone he likes he comes walking in. Don’t bother emailing me! He’ll say, ‘Come and have a look at this’. I much prefer it that way.”
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