DEFENDER Mensah, 24, is available for free this summer when his deal at Evian expires and Ronny Deila is facing the prospect of losing both on-loan Jason Denayer and Virgil van Dijk.

HAT-TRICK hero Leigh Griffiths sent Celtic soaring eight points clear at the top last night – as the club eye up a move for Ghana World Cup stopper Jonathan Mensah.

Griffiths fired a blistering 18-minute treble after coming off the bench as the Hoops hit back from a goal down to crush Killie.

And with boss Ronny Deila keen to beef up his defence this summer Evian ace Mensah is on the Parkhead radar.

With the prospect of Celtic losing both on-loan Jason Denayer and Virgil van Dijk at the end of the season, Deila is seeking backline reinforcements.

Mensah, 24, is available on a free this summer when his deal at the French club expires and he has been watched by Hoops scouts.

The centre-back featured in all of Ghana’s three matches at last year’s World Cup in Brazil and also helped his country finish runners-up at the Africa Cup of Nations two months ago.

Deila was grateful to Griffiths last night for an inspirational show and reckons the striker has such a sweet left foot he could be a star kicker in the NFL.

The Hoops had fallen behind to a shock Darryl Westlake opener just after half-time before Kris Commons hit back.

Then Griffiths entered the fray and blew Killie away. Boss Deila insisted he could even forgive the striker for scoffing teacakes as long as he keeps gorging on goals after taking his tally to 15 for the season.

He said: “Leigh was fabulous. You can’t do any better than three goals. He could be a kicker in American football – he’d be good.

“He’s improved a lot in my time here. He’s training well and as a 24-hour athlete he’s been getting better and better, even though he eats cakes on the bench sometimes.

“But it’s just a start – he needs to keep working on small things and he’ll get even more goals.

“He likes proving he shouldn’t be on the bench and that’s how to do it. That’s what I expect from the other subs as well. You can be angry but the way to get back into the team is to prove you deserve to play – like Leigh did today.”

Deila reckons Griffiths helped spark the side after they fell behind.

He said: “Defensively we were good for the first 60 minutes but our attacking play was too slow and we didn’t create anything.

“We said at the break we needed to take risks and get behind them. With Leigh coming on we had more movement and opened them up.”

Celtic can seal the title at Aberdeen on May 10 if both sides keep winning. But Deila wants the championship in the bag even earlier.

He said: “We could win it before Pittodrie, hopefully we will. We want to win the title as early as possible and this was an important win.”

Gary Locke insists his Killie side can hold their heads high after matching Celts for an hour.

He said: “The game plan was working a treat. We were compact, organised and their fans were getting frustrated when we went a goal up.

“It was a good finish from Commons to equalise but we felt Sammy Clingan was fouled in the build-up.

“We should have defended better for the second and fourth goals but we have to look at the positives. We contained them for long spells and played reasonably well.”

Killie are not quite in the relegation clear just yet, but Locke is confident they will be safe.

He said: “Our season won’t hinge on Celtic at Parkhead. We have five big games coming up and need to win a few.”