JOHN: CELTIC BOSS SHOULD PICK BOYATA

English clubs out but Marseille are still circling and for me Dembele has to stay

AS we go into the final stages of the transfer window, all eyes are on who might come in. But for me it’s important not to take your eye off the ball the other way and one player who shouldn’t be allowed to go at any cost this summer is Moussa Dembele.

The Frenchman is going into his third season at the club, which in some ways seems extraordinary given the amount of speculation there was around him almost as soon as he had stepped foot in the door.

There has been a bit of chat that Marseilles are still looking at Moussa and a move to France would clearly be of interest to him, but for me, it would be a disaster to sell him now.

And while English clubs are obviously out of the equation, I would be wary of a French side stepping in for Moussa at the last minute.

Celtic would need to boot that one out right away. They are a far better team when he is in it. He makes them more dynamic, he raises the bar, he has an energy and a presence about him and if I was in charge at Celtic, I’d be building a team around him.

To be fair, I think Brendan Rodgers has tried to do that this season. He gave an indication at the beginning of the campaign that he would play Odsonne Edouard and Dembele up front together but his plan was disrupted by injuries to both strikers.

It was unfortunate because they look as though they would blow everyone away, but you just can’t legislate for injuries.

But as I have written in this column before, you cannot stand still. Selling Moussa in this window would be a step back the way.

The only way I think you could give it any consideration was if it was crazy money – and I am talking in the £30million bracket here. Then you have cash to go and invest in the team but even then, I would still be reluctant to sanction his sale.

Even on Saturday, you saw how important he is to Celtic. I don’t know that there were ever really in any danger against Partick Thistle but when Dembele comes onto the pitch you just sense that the level goes up.

He is a big-game player. He has that temperament for the big occasion and let’s not forget Celtic are still going for four trophies this season.

There is a Treble to defend. There is hopefully going to be a Europa League campaign to feature in.