Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert is chasing Celtic striker Gary Hooper.

The People says Hooper was the subject of several bids from Norwich in January and Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas made a personal check on him during that transfer window.

Celtic were desperate to hold on to Hooper while they remained in the Champions League and stood firm on their asking price - with £8million now expected to land the forward, who cost £2.4m from Scunthorpe in 2010.

Fulham and Sunderland are also fans of Hooper, while Villa see him as the perfect foil for Christian Benteke, who is interesting Inter Milan.