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Leigh Griffiths on brink as Wolves close in on Leon Clarke

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Wolves and Celtic were today hopeful of reaching agreement over the transfer of Leigh Griffiths – with Coventry's Leon Clarke lined up to replace him despite a second bid being rejected.

Celtic's opening offer – believed to be as low as £250,000 – was rejected yesterday after Molineux officials saw a second bid of around £500,000 turned down for Clarke.

But Parkhead boss Neil Lennon, who today explained his reasons for targeting Griffiths, is determined to land his man and all parties hope the deals can be completed in the next 48 hours.

It's understood Wolves are holding out for £1m for Griffiths, the same figure that Coventry want for Clarke.

In the meantime Griffiths was part of Wolves' 20-strong squad that travelled for tonight's clash at Oldham.

Lennon said: "He's a good player and I was very impressed with him last year.

"Whenever we played Hibs you were always looking at him as a threat.

"His goal tally is impressive. Even though he's not playing at the minute he's still Wolves' leading scorer.

"Leigh is only 23 so he's the right age for us. That gives us a lot of scope. He's maybe not up to Champions League standard yet but it's up to us to turn him into that.

"I think he's matured into a very good player.

Wolves head coach Kenny Jackett suggested Wolves will not set a deadline for the Griffiths deal in case they miss out on the best price.

"If a substantial bid came in after any deadline we set, we'd still have to consider it," he said.

Jackett seems confident about replacing Griffiths, with Clarke, and said: "We're looking around and we have been for some time, definitely. Being left short is a possibility, but from February 7 you can loan players for 93 days so the market is only closed for one week."