Lennon braced for Celtic departures

7 March 2013 01:19

Celtic coach Neil Lennon says he may have to sell some of the players who led the Scottish champions to the last 16 of the Champions League.

After watching his side crash out at the hands of Italian side Juventus on Wednesday, Lennon knows that rival clubs will be looking to swoop on players such as Victor Wanyama, and admitted that some may want to move.

"We'll see in the summer how many players want to progress elsewhere," he told Sky Sports.

"It's a progression for us, we want to bring in younger players, develop them and sell them on, that strategy has worked well for us."

The 41-year-old former Celtic skipper admitted that there was a gulf in class between his side and Juventus that was reflected in the 5-0 aggregate scoreline

"I think quality counts at the end of the day and our finishing at times let us down. Our build up play was very good and just our execution, (Efe) Ambrose had a great chance just after half-time that would have made it 1-1 and who knows what would have happened.

"In the final third we had some good play, Samaras has flashed one across the goal and you're expecting Gary Hooper to finish and (Gianluigi) Buffon's made a superb save from a deflected shot, but on the night class tells in the end and I think that told over the two games.

"I hope (my team have) learnt a lot, I hope they move on with their careers and they've done the club very proud and I'm proud to be a manager here in this fantastic stadium.

"I hope these young guys blossom from this experience, but last 16 is cutthroat and Juventus were clinical over the two games."