O'NEILL DENIES LARSSON RUMOURS

Some reports had said that the Swedish ace would be arriving on Merseyside to discuss a move to Anfield as replacement for Robbie Fowler, but has been instantly dismissed by O'Neill.

"This is a good one, I must admit," joked O'Neill.

"All I can say is that, if Henrik was training at Anfield, he must have hired his own helicopter and sneaked away from Barrowfield early without us noticing!"

Larsson banged in a record 53 goals for the Scottish champions last season and it has always been wondered how well he would perform in The Premiership.

However, Celtic would be loathed to let their prize asset go and it is unlikely that they will let him go without a fight.

Meanwhile, former Leicester City midfielder Neil Lennon says that he has already begun talks with Celtic officials about a new deal.

The 30-year-old has become an instant favourite with Celtic fans after he followed O'Neill from Filbert Street for £6 million.

His current deal already keeps him with the treble winners until 2005 and a further extension to that could see him end his career with Celtic.

"The manager has been having talks with my agent so we'll just see how it goes. It's fantastic, but it's very early days," said Lennon.

"I'm really enjoying it now. It's not an easy place to come and settle and last season was a blur.

"It went really quickly, with success after success and I knew this would be the acid test, this season, and so far it's gone well."