NEW BHOY EDOUARD FANCIES A PARIS MATCH
Odsonne and Mbappe honed their skills as kids in rival teams and built a lifetime friendship as they swap doors at PSG
NEW Celtic signing Odsonne Edouard has vowed to score against parent club PSG if he gets the chance this month.
The 19-year-old has joined Celtic on a season long loan deal following his deadline day move from France and the striker has no qualms about being set loose on his former team-mates.
There is no legislation preventing players from featuring against a team they are on loan from and last season Patrick Roberts, on loan from Manchester City, scored at the Etihad in the Champions League as Celtic drew with Pep Guardiola’s side.
“It will be a bit bizarre,” said Edouard. “The atmosphere will be something special because the Champions League
AS KIDS, they were friendly rivals growing up in their Parisian suburb.
Kylian Mbappe has since becomes the world’s most expensive teenager with a pricetag of £165m following his move from Monaco to PSG. New Celtic signing Odsonne Edouard has watched his mate’s progress but while Mbappe heads to PSG with his reputation cemented following a successful debut season with Monaco, Edouard heads to Glasgow looking to forge his own name.
But it is on the park next month where he will look to re-ignite his childhood rivalry with Mbappe when PSG come calling at Celtic Park. Having known one another as boys, the two were also part of the same French under-19 side, not that there will be any old pals act when they cross paths again at Celtic Park.
Brendan Rodgers’ side open their Champions League group campaign with a home game against the French giants next Tuesday evening and Edouard doesn’t plan on watching from the sidelines. With Neymar already in at PSG, the French side have had to wheedle their way around FIFA’s financial fair play regulations by taking Mbappe on a loan deal with an obligation to buy at the end of the season.
“I actually know Kylian very well because we are childhood friends, we used to live very close to each other but we didn’t play for the same clubs,” said Edouard. “So from the start there was a rivalry between the two boys clubs. I played for Bobigny and Kylian played for Bondy, they are both in the northeast of Paris.
“I think it’s a really good thing that he’s signed for PSG, he deserves it. He had a fantastic season last year, it’s a good thing forr him, it’s a good thing for PSG. For me the key thing is to concentrate on what it happening next week,k, making sure I train hard, I work k hard and then potentially play.”
And, inevitably, Edouard hass similar ambitions to Mbappe. His s primal aim, now, is to establish h himself at Celtic in order to comee to the attention of the French naational team.
“Every footballer has that kind d of ambition, to become a great t player – a really big player in Eu- rope,” he said. “I am no differentt in that respect. I am ambitious s and I want to become a really y good player. To be more specific,, my key aim at the moment is too be selected for the French national team at some point in the future.
“My objective, really, is to make progress. To improve as a player.
“The only way you are going to do that is by playing matches, real matches in the first team. So this is why I went to Toulouse last year. And this is why I have now joined Celtic this season. This is the only way you are going to become a better player if you look to your longer-term career.”
Rodgers met with the teenage striker last week in Paris, with the Celtic manager leaving an impression on the player. Just as Moussa Dembele has progressed since arriving at the club, Edouard expects that under the tutelage of Rodgers that he too can come to the fore.
In that respect, his first ambi- tion will be to get into the team team.
With Dembele currently nursing a hamstring injury, Leigh Griffiths has been in possession of the starting shirt. But Edouard will provide not just cover for the position should the Scotland internationalist find himself sidelined but will also look to fight for a place in the starting XI.XI
“Brendan Rodgers met me in Paris last week and we talked a lot about football but also had some chit-chat about other things,” he said. “What really influenced my decision to come to Glasgow, though, was that they came with a project built around me. It wasn’t justju about playing for Celtic – it was w a project about how they intend te to develop me as a player.”
WITH Olivier Ntcham and Dembele already settled at Celtic, Edouard will add to the French contingent at the club.
The striker did not feel the need to sound out either player about the move – and there were options for him to go elsewhere in France – but rather felt that the alacrity of
Celtic’s pursuit of him meant that he was being paraded yesterday at Celtic Park before he having time to chew over the move with his fellow countrymen.
Certainly, though, the trajectory of Dembele’s career is something that Edouard will look to replicate while Ntcham, too, has shown even in these early weeks at Celtic that he has something different to offer in the middle of the park.
“Moussa comes from the PSG academy as well and, when you look at his career so far, then him coming here is an example to every player going through that academy,” remarked Edouard.
“He gives everyone motivation by seeing how he has grown and how he has improved. He has become a really good player and, in coming here, I am really looking forward to learning a lot from him in terms of his development.
“I got a message this morning from Olivier saying ‘Welcome to the club’ and I’ve probably had one from Moussa as well but I’ve been running around like mád for hours now and I haven’t been able to check my ‘phone.
“Everything happened so fast over the last week so I haven’t spoken to Moussa. He is injured as well so it is not that easy to speak to him but in any case, nothing was sure.
Nothing was certain until very late so there was not much point talking to him about coming before I had signed. I have to say that I am looking forward to playing with him and spending time with him and we will certainly have time to discuss loads of things and what it is like to be here.”
Celtic have an option to buy Edouard on a permanent deal for £10m euros next season but the player himself isn’t looking further than this season. “I have just arrived!” he laughed.
It will be all smiles from Celtic if the striker progresses in the manner they think he will.