Peter Grant has revealed that Gary Hooper was a signing target for West Brom when he was assistant to Tony Mowbray at The Hawthorns.
Hooper was starting to make his name with goals for Scunthorpe as West Brom battled against relegation from the Premiership.
Grant assisted Tony Mowbray for nine months at Celtic before Neil Lennon took over with the new hoops boss heading straight to Scunthorpe to make one of his key signings.
“I saw Gary play in England a lot,” Grant admitted. “I watched him for West Brom when he was at Scunthorpe at the same time as Simon Cox was scoring goals for Swindon and Sam Baldock was at MK Dons.
“At that time I would have had Gary behind Cox and second on the list.
“Did I think he would have achieved what he has at Celtic? Probably not but I always thought he would score goals, though. He will score goals in any team if he gets chances.
“For England, Roy Hodgson is a bit more defensive so he would maybe find himself getting less opportunities but he’s definitely worth a shout for England.
“Jordan Rhodes went for £8million after scoring goals in League One, Gary is doing it for Celtic in the SPL and in Europe, so who knows what he’s worth?
“He’s been doing it week-in, week-out for a big club so he could go anywhere after sampling that intensity.”
Celtic are hoping to get Hooper to agree to a contract extension but the striker appears to be on the wanted list of a number of Premiership clubs who could double the wages on offer from Celtic.
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