Celtic manager Neil Lennon has said the record transfer fee received for Kieran Tierney will help him with recruitment before the end of the transfer window but he plans to let players leave before any new signings.

Tierney left Celtic for Arsenal in a £25m deal on Thursday, leaving Lennon needing a left-back to compete with Boli Bolingoli and the manager has other positions he wants to fill.

Though he played down comments about five new arrivals as humour that was taken out of context, he revealed that the two or three he wants to bring in wouldn't be the priority with some in his squad needing to move to get game time.

"We're looking at maybe two or three players but we also need to move a few players on or out to get them playing to make room in the squad," he said.

"Until we do that we may not bring anybody in as yet.

"[The Tierney money] makes things a little bit easier in terms of pushing the boat out a little bit more but we're not going to be breaking transfer records and be silly spending money.

"We've got targets in mind and we're working away on that to see if we can get deals done sooner rather than later."

Having sold one of their most valuable assets, Lennon said the club had no intention of allowing any other stars to leave and he said that he would speak to Callum McGregor after an approach from Leicester City was rebuffed.

"We are not interested in selling any of our better players now," he said. "It's well documented that there was interest in Callum. It was just an approach, no bid. That's over now and we will settle him down.

"He is playing as well as he has ever done and hopefully he will again have another fantastic season as he has done the last couple."