Lennon’s advisors have been holding talks with the Celtic hierarchy in a bid to win a lucrative new deal for their client.

Despite his 36th birthday approaching in June, the Parkhead skipper feels he can offer at least one more season at the top level.

He is keen to remain at Celtic but has warned manager Gordon Strachan he would be unwilling to settle for the occasional cameo role.

“I don’t want to be the old player that hangs around clapping the boys off,” he said recently. Whether Strachan can offer any more than that is the manager’s call, and he was reluctant to discuss the situation with the title race still ’live’. That could soon change.

Former Old Firm star Mo Johnston has already expressed an interest in recruiting Lennon for his Toronto FC side, the Canadian outfit who are in the early stages of their maiden Major League Soccer campaign.

A move overseas looks unlikely just yet however, with the midfielder already rejecting the prospect of playing in America next season.

Lennon could probably handle a season in the Coca-Cola Championship, or even at the lower end of the Barclays Premiership, but what will surely have crossed his mind on a daily basis recently is whether remaining at Celtic for another year would be one year too many.

He has been a figure of controversy since his arrival in the east end of Glasgow in December 2000, when he followed boss Martin O’Neill from Leicester.

In 2002 he was prompted to quit the Northern Ireland team following a death threat which was ethno-politically motivated rather than related to his on-field performance.

He has also suffered an apparent sectarian attack in the street and had graffiti daubed on the road outside his Glasgow home.

Understand Lennon’s outstanding contribution to Celtic’s success and you understand why supporters of Rangers have taken a dislike to him for purely on-field reasons.

Despite never being crowned player of the year by his fellow professionals or the Scottish football writers, Lennon has certainly been one of Celtic’s most important and influential players of the last decade.

He is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve – right next to the captain’s armband he inherited from Jackie McNamara in 2005 – and his unswerving commitment to the Celtic cause has never been in doubt.

However, several flashpoints this season suggest now might be the right time to sever his ties with Celtic, and Scottish football, while he can still walk away with his head held high.

He was the focus of attention last month when he threw a plastic bottle into the dug-out during an argument with a Celtic fan at the end of the 1-0 defeat by Rangers.

Lennon refused to apologise for the incident, insisting: “Everyone goes on about the bottle-throwing incident, but the guy was actually criticising the team.”

Then came the one-fingered salute to Falkirk fans, which was not quite so easy to justify.

What the future holds for Lennon remains to be seen, but leaving now would certainly give him the opportunity to leave on a guaranteed positive note.

Many of the game’s most special players have timed their exit from the game, or from a certain club, just about perfectly.

Few ever are placed in such a privileged position as Lennon now finds himself in.