NEIL LENNON hailed the impact of Odsonne Edouard on his Celtic side after the Frenchman climbed off the bench to hit a quickfire double against Ross County, saying that the striker is among the best players the club have had in the past 20 years.

Edouard scored twice in three second-half minutes to add to a Callum McGregor penalty as Celtic moved five points clear of Rangers with a 3-0 win, with the Ibrox side playing against Hearts at Tynecastle this afternoon.

And Lennon was full of praise for Edouard after the match as he took his tally to 20 goals for the season.

“He is hugely important,” Lennon said. “He is an outstanding footballer, almost talismanic.

“He is up there with some of the best we’ve had over the last 20 years.

“The impact Odsonne made coming on was huge and the game opened up. We could have scored more in the end and in the context of the season, it's a brilliant win.

“He’s a class player. He had a toe injury and it was quite tender underneath it, but he looked absolutely fine when he came on and fresh, which was great.

“He had an X-ray on his toe on Friday. His foot was in a boot but he did a fitness session at night and it felt a lot better. We were concerned he wouldn't do the full 90 minutes so it worked out okay.

"He looked really sharp for the half hour he was on and made an incredible impact on the team.

“You could see the lift he gave to the team as well, and his second goal was a great goal. A great finish.

“It was just a matter of time of when to bring him on, and I think we got that just about right.

“He’s playing better than ever and I’m delighted with that.

"Odsonne showed all his qualities and he should be okay for Wednesday now.”

Lennon meanwhile discussed the possibility of bringing Filip Benkovic back to the club this month, with Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers intimating he would be prepared to allow him to leave on loan for the rest of the season.

“I don’t know, is the answer," he said. "I only worked with Filip for a short time, but I know he had a good impact here last season.

"Hopefully we’ll be looking to bring one or two in this week.”