Keith Jackson

another reason why his price tag has dropped off the edge of a cliff.

There has been a nagging concern over Dembele’s physical condition and durability and the more sick days he takes at Celtic the more these suspicions will linger. But two dodgy hamstrings coupled with a bad attitude?

That doesn’t make for an attractive package which could be why the only bid that’s come in for him over these last four weeks was not sent from Barcelona or Bayern Munich but from Brighton and Hove Albion.

There’s a bit of mystery surrounding the actual quantum of this offer as well as Celtic’s response to it. There’s a suggestion too that, rather than being rejected, the bid was only kicked into touch when Dembele refused to play along. That he had no intention of joining a club that could be sent straight back down to the second tier of English football at the first time of asking.

That he and his camp believe there is something far bigger and much better coming down the pipeline, possibly as soon as the summer.

If that’s the case then it should suit Dembele, not just to sit tight for the time being, but to get the sleeves rolled up again and to rediscover the free-scoring form that made him so appealing in the first place.

It does feel as if he is resting on his laurels probably because of the success he has enjoyed at international level with the French Under-21s. He will feel, with some justification, his startling