NEIL Lennon last night confirmed there is no chance of Odsonne Edouard being sold during the January transfer window while Celtic are still bidding to land their ninth consecutive Scottish title.

Lennon acknowledged that interest in Edouard likely to increase after the striker scored a hat-trick for the France Under-21 team against Slovakia on Tuesday evening.

However, the Northern Irishman stressed the 21-year-old, who cost the treble treble winners a club record £9 million from Paris Saint-Germain last year, will remain at Parkhead until at least the end of the 2019/20 campaign.

READ MORE: Watch Odsonne Edouard bag hat-trick for France Under-21s

“It (the hat-trick) is great for him and great for the profile of the club,” he said. “It is fantastic for him that he is playing so well for club and country.

“He will be linked with everybody in the next couple of weeks and come the end of January, but we are in no position to sell. He is a class player and is pivotal to us.

“There’s no chance of him leaving in January. We’ve got too much to do here. We may be in Europe after January, so that’s even more reason for him not to go.

“He’s been outstanding this season in all the games. He’s playing, he looks happy, his all-round game is coming on. And he’s turned himself into a prolific goal scorer.”

READ MORE: Adored Odsonne Edouard is revelling in his Ronaldo role at Celtic

Lennon added: “Speaking to his representatives, they’re really happy with the way things are going, as well. So long may that continue.

“He’s a real cool customer. I think he’ll leave it to other people to worry about who is interested. He’s still only 21, so we don’t want to put any extra pressure on him.

“He takes on a lot of responsibly by being, more or less, the No. 9 here at the minute. But he’s revelling in it.”