Celtic boss Neil Lennon has warned that any club wanting to sign Gary Hooper will have to pay 'proper money' as he wants to keep him.
Lennon has spoken out following two failed bids from Championship leaders Southampton for the 23-year-old hitman, who scored his 16th goal of the season in Saturday's 2-1 SPL win against Dundee United at Parkhead.
And, as Hooper scored more goals than current Liverpool striker Andy Carroll in the 2009-10 Championship season when they were plying their trade for Scunthorpe and Newcastle respectively, Lennon jokingly suggested that his star man must also be worth the £35million Carroll was sold for 12 months ago.
However, Lennon added: "I don't draw comparisons, they are two totally different types of players and the market at that time was different.
"Chelsea spent a lot of money on Torres and Liverpool had money to spend.
"I think Andy Carroll is a very good player. Whether people think the fee is justified (or not) it's not the player's fault.
"But we look at that, we look at some of the other prices being bandied about.
"When we have players like Ki Sung-yueng, Beram Kayal, Emilio Izaguirre, Hooper and James Forrest, they are not going to go cheap, that's for sure.
"They will have to pay proper money."
He added: "I have spoken to Gary, I am keeping him up to date. I think he is very happy here.
"I think Celtic and Gary suit each other, he is a Celtic type of player, strong, great finisher, great feet and his goal record speaks for itself."