Celtic's Peter Lawwell mocks Nikica Jelavic bid claim

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell has mocked claims of a £9m offer for Rangers' Nikica Jelavic.

Ibrox sources had suggested that they had received the bid from an unnamed club for the Croatia striker as the transfer deadline approached.

"We have had a lot of interest and we've not encouraged that interest," Lawwell said of striker Gary Hooper.

"Last night, we got a £29m offer for Hooper, from an unknown agent, from an unknown club, from another universe."

Rangers did reject a confirmed £6.5m offer from Leicester City for Jelavic, while Celtic also received inquiries about Hooper from English top-flight clubs.

When we started out at the start of the window, we wanted to keep that team together and we are delighted to have done that and added in areas we need to add

But interest from Queens Park Rangers and Wolves did not result in a departure for the Englishman who arrived from Scunthorpe United in 2010.

Shaun Maloney, who had failed to become a regular starter under manager Neil Lennon, was sold to Wigan Athletic for £1m.

And out-of-favour centre-half Jos Hooiveld was sent on loan to Southampton.

However, Georgios Samaras remained at Celtic Park despite another transfer window when the Greek striker was linked with a number of clubs in England and the Continent.

There was also speculation about the futures of midfielders Ki Sung-Yeung, Beram Kayal and Paddy McCourt, but Lennon's squad remained largely intact.

"There were offers, there was strong interest," said Lawwell, speaking at Hampden, where former Prime Minister and MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Gordon Brown was announced as patron on the Johnny Thomson Memorial Committee.

"But, when we started out at the start of the window, we wanted to keep that team together and we are delighted to have done that and added in areas we need to add."

Celtic beat the transfer deadline by a matter of hours to sign Morocco left-back Badr El Kaddouri on a six-month loan deal from Dynamo Kiev as cover for the injured Emilio Izaguirre.

The Glasgow club had ended their search for an additional striker 24 hours by securing Sierra Leone international Mohamed Bangura from AIK Stockholm.