BITTER END
Dembele £20m move breaks Scottish record but Rodgers reveals he made no promises to Lyon’s new striker
MOUSSA Dembele last night made an acrimonious deadline day exit from Celtic as he signed a five-year deal with Lyon worth a Scottish record £20m.
But Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers still maintained that there were no promises made to Dembele regarding a move as the player left the club on a sour note.
On a day of twists and turns, Dembele forced the Parkhead side into a U-turn after the club initially turned down an offer from Lyon given the lack of time available to source a replacement.
The French under-21 internationalist was dismissed from training yesterday afternoon by Rodgers after just 20 minutes with the Celtic manager saying afterwards that the player had to be removed from the group because of a negative influence.
That came on the back of a series of explosive tweets from Dembele in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The striker had tweeted: ‘A man without his word is nothing. A real man keeps his word.’ He then went further by writing: ‘Don’t get it wrong Bhoys and Ghirls nothing to do with people who really care about the club. Too much love and respect for you and the crest #CarefulWhoYouCallTheLeaderOfYours.’
Dembele had also ‘liked’ several
posts which suggested his criticism was aimed at Rodgers and including one which claimed the Celtic manager had suggested in January that he move to Brighton as the Parkhead side were not big enough for him.
“When Moussa came into here, like a number of the players, he signed for four years,” said Rodgers.
“And really looking at it, there was never a promise or anything like that made. You can’t do that. If you are planning and trying to map out a career going forward then you are looking at a couple of years and that has normally been the time scale around other players who have been here and then moved on.
“But it has to be in the best interests of the club. You have to weigh all of that up. Yes, there was an opportunity for him to move. We all have to act on the best interests of the club and we are talking here about three days before the window shuts. That made it very difficult.
“It is disappointing. I seen some of the comments and you only need to look into that to see whether it is true or not. I am a Celtic supporter and as Celtic manager am I going to tell someone to go to Brighton because they are a bigger club?
“It is understandable as a tactic. I have seen it before. I have been it and seen it from the outside and it is unfortunate that it has come to that. I have close relations with all the players.
“The first thing I always promise them is open communication. It is always open. I wouldn’t wait six months to tell them something I can tell them now and they would vouch for that.
“I am ambitious for them. We will always try to give them quality work.”
Dembele netted 53 goals for Celtic, including seven against Rangers.
The player was ale to undergo his medical and seal his deal with Lyon from Glasgow but it is understood that he will be paraded by Lyon at a press conference this afternoon.
And in a statement last night from the club, Rodgers reaffirmed his stance.
“Every decision we make at Celtic will always be in the best interests of the Club and our supporters.
“It is vital to make clear that we have never promised any player that he can leave the Club at a particular time.”
Celtic secured a one-year loan deal for Leicester City’s £13m centre-back Filip Benkovic yesterday while they also completed the signing of former Kilmarnock midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu on a two-year deal.