Celtic: Neil Lennon confirms interest in striker Steven Fletcher

Celtic manager Neil Lennon says he would be interested in Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher - at the right price.

Lennon aims to bolster his attacking options in January with a view to next season's European campaign.

Sunderland signed Scotland international Fletcher, 26, from Wolves for £14m in August 2012.

Pressed on the Fletcher link, Lennon said: "(He's) a very expensive player, (it's) just speculation."

Lennon added: "I can't say any more than that, but he's a player most teams in Britain would like."

The former Hibernian forward has also starred for Burnley during his playing career in England.

Speaking earlier this week, Lennon revealed that he had money to spend but it depends on "getting the right price and the right player".

And he intends to hold talks with Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell on his list of targets.

When asked if a fee in the region of £6m was beyond Celtic, Lennon replied: "No, but people are quoting £6m, but he (Fletcher) was bought for £12m.

"I know transfer fees change over the years, but he is a youngish player, so I would imagine it might not be £6m we are talking about.

"He is a player that I think most teams in Britain would like, but affordability might be a problem for us though.

"Could we afford to spend £6m for one player? Yes, we could."

On the possibility of breaking Celtic's wage structure to strengthen his squad, Lennon said: "I don't know, you would have to ask the board that, but if we are going to bring in a big-name player then wages will obviously have to come into mind when negotiating.

"I wouldn't imagine we would break it by a lot if we were going to do that."

Celtic are keen to retain Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley, who are both out of contract in the summer.

Ledley scored the only goal of the game as Celtic got 2014 off to a winning start with victory at home to Partick.