Eddy is hot property but even if Celts get an offer of £50M they can’t afford to take it and risk losing title
ODSONNE EDOUARD’S stock is soaring after another star turn for France’s Under-21s – and Celtic will need to be on their guard.
The striker has now scored doubles in his last three international games.
When you add in his form for his club in Scotland and in Europe it’s not a leap to assume there will be a lengthy queue forming to grab him in January.
But let’s be clear. It is impossible for Celtic to consider selling Edouard – even if they received a £50million bid.
I’m not saying they will get that kind of offer but the point is it doesn’t matter how much cash they can bank.
Letting Edouard go in the middle of the season is simply unthinkable.
Players have been sold at questionable times over the years and there has been uproar on occasions.
But this would out-do any of those sales. The reaction from fans would be nuclear.
Celtic are in a title race and it’s going to heat up after the turn of the year.
There cannot be any consideration about cashing in on their top asset.
There will be clubs sniffing around and Edouard’s exploits with France Under-21s will put bigger clubs on red alert.
They will have seen Moussa Dembele make the jump from Celtic and the French youth side to one of the top scorers in his homeland with Lyon.
There’s no reason to think Edouard can’t follow the same path. I believe he will eventually go for even bigger money than Dembele did.
The £20m Lyon spent on him is already looking a bargain.
There’s always a lot of debate in Glasgow about Edouard v Alfredo Morelos and both will command top money eventually.
But the Celtic striker is more marketable for me, with a much stronger all-round game. Edouard scores goals but is also
the man for the massive occasion – while Rangers can take their pick from two in any circumstances. It’s an area Celtic might need to address when the transfer window opens in January – and that is even when completely discounting the possibility of selling Edouard. Make no mistake, it’s game on for the title this season. The last couple of weeks have proved that. It wasn’t so long ago it seemed Celtic had reinforced their superiority with the win at Ibrox.
But a couple of poor results against Hibs and Livingston and the pendulum has swung the other way. I’ve got no doubt it will happen a good few times over the course of the Premiership campaign.
There will be slip-ups from both sides from time to time. It will come down to which team stumbles the least – not just the Old Firm head-to-heads.
That was the case last season and will be again this one. Even so, I was surprised to see Celtic slip up at Livi.
I know it’s a plastic pitch and an awkward place to go but that shouldn’t be an excuse.
Christopher Jullien has impressed in recent weeks but he got overly emotional on Sunday – while Ryan Christie had a total rush of blood to the head. I’m not saying his sending-off cost them the game but there was no doubt it was a factor.
It opened the door for Rangers and they took their chance to go top. But I’m not quite buying the suggestion it was some kind of mental test of them. Do me a favour. With respect to Hamilton, a home game to Accies is a banker.
But going top of the league was still significant.
Celtic shouldn’t need any wake-up calls but if they did then this was it.
Gaffer Lennon has gone from hero to zero, back to hero and now he’s a zero again.
Gerrard was on the end of stick after the Old Firm and Young Boys games – but now Gers fans are buoyant after beating Hamilton. That’s Scottish football. And there will be plenty more twists and turns before May.
The reaction from fans would be nuclear if Hoops were to cash in on hitman