OPINION
Celtic must attempt to re-sign Sheffield Wednesday forward Gary Hooper in the January transfer window with Brendan Rodgers a striker light after cashing in on Moussa Dembele on transfer deadline day last month.
The Daily Record has reported that the Hoops are in the hunt to sign another centre-forward to add to Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard, and turning to Hooper would be a sure-fire way to continue the club’s dominance of Scottish football thanks to his proven track record at Parkhead.
The 30-year-old has not played for Sheffield Wednesday since December due to injury, but he is on the comeback trail and started for the Owls’ Under-23s side on Monday in their PDL2 clash with Colchester.
U23s | @HOOP588 and @kieranlee1988 in the starting XI for the Under-23s' PDL2 clash with Colchester at Hillsborough (1pm)
?https://t.co/kgv1cb6GlN #swfc pic.twitter.com/PK1GH3jpjE
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) September 10, 2018
Once he is back to fitness, there is little doubt that he will be straight back into the Yorkshire club’s first team and pick up where he left off last season when he scored 11 goals in 25 appearances across all competitions before injury.
Hooper was without doubt a goal machine during his time at Celtic.
Between 2010 and 2013, the English striker scored 82 times in 138 total matches and he would more than replace the goals that are bound to be missed with Dembele now at Lyon.
The whole situation about the Frenchman quitting Parkhead was a complete debacle which left Rodgers no time to find a replacement.
Hooper even retweeted a tweet on his personal Twitter account on deadline day from a Celtic fan which suggested that the Glasgow giants should re-sign their former hitman.
Sell Moussa, bring back @HOOP588
— Allan McNelis (@Nelly1682) August 30, 2018
It would more than likely cost a lot of money to pry Hooper away from Hillsborough, but it is without doubt a move that Celtic must be willing to take if they want to make up for losing Dembele last month.