Lennon defends Jullien deal, hints at another defender signing

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Celtic have snapped up Toulouse defender Christopher Jullien.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon has told The Scottish Sun that the Bhoys signed £7m defender Christopher Jullien after being quoted similar prices for players in the Championship.

The Bhoys have made their first two signings of the summer, bringing in Toulouse centre back Jullien and Bolton Wanderers teenager Luca Connell.

The signing of Jullien has really caught the eye, with Celtic splashing out £7million to sign the Frenchman and bolster Lennon’s defence.

Standing at a huge 6ft 5in tall, Jullien will bring a dominant presence to the Celtic back line, and should form a strong partnership with talented youngster Kristoffer Ajer.

At 26, Jullien is at the perfect age for Celtic, as he has experience under his belt but also potential to get even better, and they’ll certainly be encouraged by how he played alongside Issa Diop in the 2017-18 season.

Lennon will hope that Jullien can fill the void left by Dedryck Boyata, and has now discussed why Celtic splashed the cash to sign him.

Lennon admitted that £7million is ‘serious money’ for Celtic, but they hit a problem when targeting Championship players as they were quoted a similar fee, so Jullien was the standout target having played at a much higher level.

The Celtic boss even hinted that Celtic may be pursuing another centre back to compete with Jullien, Ajer, jozo Simunovic and Jack Hendry, but Jullien is the clear number one centre back now.

“It’s serious money but the market is where it is now,” said Lennon. “We have been quoted that amount of money for players in the Championship as well. Christopher has played at a top level in France. He has faced PSG, Lyon and Marseille and has come out of very well. It’s just the market value. It’s a lot of money for us but the club think it’s a good bit of business.”

“We will possibly need another centre-half too. We are running with Kris Ajer, Jozo Simunovic and Jack Hendry at the moment. So we may have to add another but Jullien is coming as No 1 — he’s that sort of signing. It sends a message out that we want to improve the squad and quality,” he added.