NEIL Lennon reckons he might have landed a real January bargain in former Celtic charge Filip Twardzik.

The Czech-born midfielder was one of four deadline day arrivals on Monday – signing a two-and-a-half year deal for a nominal fee.

Lennon, who brought him to Scotland as a teenager from German club Hertha Berlin, believes the youngster could become a first-team regular if he conquers the injury issues which checked his progress at Parkhead.

“We had him in the first team at 17 and he had a good mentality even then,” he said of Twardzik, whose twin brother Patrik still plays for the Hoops.

“He can play in a variety of positions, he’s tall, athletic, got a very good left foot.

“He can head the ball – which you need to do in the Championship – get around the pitch and pass it well.

“He could be a bit sloppy at times but you can’t have everything at his age.

“Then he had a real bad injury problem with both groins. He had surgery and that really curtailed him for a while.

“He’s fine now and he’s ready to go. Hopefully we can get him up and running again.”

Twardzik made seven appearances in all for Celtic, only one under new boss Ronny Deila – a 1-0 defeat at Inverness in August.

It is most likely he will start on the bench for today’s trip to Derby County – but Lennon believes the youngster is ready for first-team football.

“He played for my first team at Celtic towards the end of last season and I always liked him,” he said. “He’s on a free, not cost us a lot of money, and if we can get him right we could have a really good player on our hands.”

Lennon said it was always unlikely he would be joined by Parkhead favourite Kris Commons, who signed a new two-year Celtic deal this week.

While the Whites boss admitted an interest in the 31-year-old former Derby and Nottingham Forest man, he insists a move never came close.

“Celtic always held the cards on that one,” he said. “Again, I’d like to keep a decent relationship with Celtic and I didn’t want to push things.

“Peter (Lawwell) made it pretty clear he wouldn’t be leaving and I didn’t want to upset the applecart there.”