Hot property... but so ice-cool
Rodgers hails relaxed Edouard
BRENDAN Rodgers understands that becoming a top-level striker is a matter of temperament as well as technique. There is little point in a player having the skill to fashion a chance if he loses his cool at the finishing touch.
There need be no such fears about Odsonne Edouard. Even when all around them are losing a little composure — including, briefly, his manager — the 20-year-old Frenchman sails on serenely. Edouard gives off the impression that he would remain unruffled in a hurricane.
Rodgers points towards the ten-man win at Ibrox earlier this month as the perfect example. Introduced from the bench into an intense atmosphere, Edouard calmly glided away from Rangers defenders before curling home a terrific finish to put Celtic 3-2 ahead. There was happiness in his celebration, for sure, but not any abandon. More was seen from Rodgers when he sprinted out of his technical area with arms raised in delight.
The situation was mirrored in the away dressing room half an hour later. As Celtic’s players hailed a memorable victory that pushed them a significant step closer to a seventh successive title, the matchwinner was a picture of calm.
‘You see him after the game at Ibrox,’ recalled Rodgers. ‘People are jumping about and rightly so. He is walking around as if: “What’s going on here?”
‘It can be real strength as he never gets too disappointed or too high. But he knows he is a player.’
So does Rodgers. Edouard’s loan deal from Paris Saint-Germain contains a fixed-fee clause to make the move permanent, although the Celtic boss insists it is not set at the £7million previously reported.
In any case, pursuing his signature in the summer will require more than simply meeting an asking price, whatever its scale. There is a case to be made for Scotland being the right place for Edouard’s talent to develop, as it has been for his compatriot Moussa Dembele. Finance is only part of the equation.
Edouard has scored eight times for Celtic over 11 starts and 13 substitute appearances. Rodgers has been more than pleased with that contribution, insisting he doesn’t need to see anything new from the player before the end of the season.
‘No, I have seen it,’ he added. ‘I have said that all along.
‘Sometimes, I use him from the bench and, sometimes, I start him. He is the most natural of all our strikers in how he moves. His movement is phenomenal for a young player. How he drifts in and out of space. Then his actual speed to get in behind.
‘It is very early in his career but, if you measure him coming through at PSG and France, he is a record goalscorer. If you look at starts and goals for us, he is at a really good level.
‘But he has had to come here and adapt. He couldn’t speak the language initially but he’s working on that and trying his best.
‘He trains well every day. He does things on the training ground that amaze me. And he is tough — just a really tough boy.
‘So he is a really big talent and I have always felt, even when he hasn’t played, that he has talent.
‘Like any young player, there is lots to improve on, but he is a big weapon for us.’
Adapting to Celtic has been made easier by the presence of fellow Frenchmen. While Dembele was already in place, £4m midfielder Olivier Ntcham arrived six weeks ahead of Edouard last summer.
The former Manchester City man had previously been on loan in Italy with Genoa. Rodgers feels he has now got to grips with the physical demands of Scottish football and the fixture schedule Celtic face.
‘It is just about bedding him in,’ the Parkhead boss continued. ‘When he came in, it was about one game a week. You have to remember he played 38 games over two seasons in Genoa.
‘He was virtually up to that in one season here. So that takes time to adapt to and then you add pressure to that, as well.
‘Now we are at a stage of the season where it is virtually one game a week. He can cope with that really well.
‘You can see his qualities. And he has no ego. You look at the three midfield players we had when we went down to ten men at Ibrox — Callum (McGregor), Browny (Scott Brown) and Olivier. Their ability to move and run without ego was important. He is a big talent.’