Celtic's Neil Lennon challenges squad after Wanyama and Hooper exits These were two players I talked about quite a lot after games and sometimes that can irk other players. Maybe the ones who are irked about it will think it's time to come to the fore and have me waxing lyrical about them now. It's the challenge for them. You lose two very good players but it shouldn't be a major concern. We shouldn't have to rely on two players to qualify for the group stages. I still have a core of quality players whom i really trust. I have addressed the players individually and I've said this in front of the group. I'm not going to name names of who I picked out but it's up to them to show they can take [the next step] That's the motivation for them, to take us to the Champions League and be our main players. That's what they should be thinking now. Anthony Stokes will be tasked with replacing Hooper but Lennon will also look to Georgios Samaras to maintain his magnificent European form of the past few seasons. The Greek was regarded, not so long ago, as an under-achiever who looked as though he would be leaving the club. Lennon even referred to him as the type of player who gets managers the sack. Fortunately for both men, he has matured in the last two years and is finally fulfilling his considerable potential. He has, in fact, transformed himself into the type of player Lennon could not afford to buy. He loves the big games and he loves the responsibility now. He's turned his career full circle, it's just been brilliant to watch. He's gone from being a target for the boo-boys to the supporters" Player of the Year. "That takes an enormous amount of self-belief, an enormous amount of character, because a lot of other players would have said: "I'm not putting up with this, I'm going to go." But he stuck at it and we gave him the opportunity and he took it and he's become a really important player - and he's still improving. He works at his game, he works on his weaknesses and he's turned into a really top-class player now. I knew he had the talent. Consistency was the key and he's been far more consistent over the past 18 months than he was in the previous 18 months. You could see it, you could see him do things, even under Tony [Mowbray] I saw him in Old Firm games where he was a real handful and then in other games where he didn't look interested. "When you're 6' 4" and can run like the wind, have good feet and can head the ball... these are all the attributes you want. I think he's worth more than that. Look, we don't put prices on players but £1.5 million is well short of our valuation and what we think of him. Lennon may have been sanguine concerning the departures of Hooper and Wanyama but he is desperately keen to hold on to central defender Kelvin Wilson, a transfer target for former club Nottingham Forest. "We had a bid last Friday and knocked it back," he said. There has been nothing else since then. I don't know if it's because we have sold a couple of players for a lot of money, but I've never known a transfer window with so many of our players speculated about. There is no doubt there is something naughty going on. It doesn't make me happy, because we don't do that type of thing. I don't know where it is coming from. But as soon as the bid was made on Friday, it was out on BBC East Midlands about 20 minutes later. That's not the way you do things. Lennon admits his bid to prevent Mo Bangura lining up against Celtic for Elfsborg has almost certainly been in vain. "I am not going to make a big song and dance about it but the reality of it is, there is a big possibility that Mo could play," he said. If he plays, he plays and we are preparing for it as if he is playing. You would probably need to ask him how he is feeling more than me. We made our feelings pretty clear over the last week or so but we have to respect Elfsborg's decision.