Gheorghe Hagi reveals Celtic admiration as he rolls out red carpet for Neil Lennon in Bucharest

Hagi admits he's full of admiration for Lennon as the former Celtic boss makes the move to his homeland

Neil Lennon has been applauded for his success at 'big club' Celtic - by none other than Gheorghe Hagi.

Lennon heads to Romania for the next chapter of his increasingly nomadic managerial career and few know Romanian football quite like Hagi, one of his country's most famous footballer ever. He has close connections to the Scottish game too, his son Ianis still under contract at Rangers and set to return to Philippe Clement's team after an unsuccessful loan stint at Alaves.

Lennon will come up against former Real Madrid and Barcelona icon Hagi next season because the Romanian legend is both owner and manager of Farul Constanta, who won the league last year but could only finish in fourth place this term.

And Hagi - whose son Ianis will return to Rangers this summer after an unsuccessful loan spell at Alaves - admits he is an admirer of Lennon's previous work.

He said: "Neil Lennon is a coach who has delivered in his career. He managed Celtic and won a lot of titles in Scotland. He is a great manager and comes from Celtic - a strong club with a rich football culture.

"He knows all about pressure because there is plenty of pressure to win in Scotland and, of course, he will have big expectations to succeed at Rapid Bucharest too. We know how big a club Celtic are because they played Romanian teams in European competition. He is an extremely experienced coach."