Dembele wanted more game time beside Edouard
MOUSSA DEMBELE admits his only regret from his two years at Celtic is not playing more with Odsonne Edouard. Signed at the outset of Brendan Rodgers’ reign in 2016, the former Fulham striker made a huge impact before sealing a £20million transfer to Lyon. Edouard arrived initially on a season-long loan from Paris Saint-Germain at the halfway point of Dembele’s stay and went on to clinch a £10m permanent transfer. Reflecting on the fact that they were on the field at the same time on only 11 occasions in their one full season together at Celtic, Dembele said: ‘The only bad point is that we didn’t play together earlier. We knew that if we played together, we’d do something good. ‘When Odsonne first came, he was a bit shy. Because we come from the same place, I tried to help him, I gave him a lot of advice. After that, he changed, from one player to another. ‘He is a very, very good player, he will go straight to the top. I think we saw what he was capable of this season. He’s a fantastic player, a player I rate and, hopefully, he’ll go to the very top with Celtic. I wish him luck.’ Dembele (below) left at the end of August 2018, with the striker and Rodgers at loggerheads over what had privately been agreed on the player’s future. Despite the circumstances of his exit, the 23-year-old, who scored 18 goals with Lyon last season, says he has nothing but fond memories of his time in Scotland. ‘Before I came, it was just a “big club”,’ he explained. ‘But once you step in, you realise that it’s more than a football club. It made me grow as a player, as a man and made me see things differently. ‘I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’m a fan now. I follow every game because it was two fantastic years. It is the greatest club in the world.’ Dembele marked himself out as one of Europe’s emerging talents by scoring in the Champions League against the likes of Manchester City but it was his exploits against Rangers that immediately endeared him to the Celtic supporters. He netted a hat-trick as Rodgers won his first derby 5-1 and would depart having scored a total of seven goals in nine games against the Ibrox club. ‘As soon as I signed for Celtic, the first thing they said is: “You have to beat Rangers”,’ said Dembele. ‘It’s a six or nine-point game, so you have to make sure you give it your everything. I think that’s one of the best games I’ve played in my whole career.’ Meanwhile, former Celtic star Mikael Lustig has warned Rangers that a failure to stop their fierce rivals winning a tenth straight title next season will gain them notoriety. The Swedish defender, who won eight league championships at Parkhead before moving to Gent a year ago, said: ‘I think there’s going to be more pressure on the Rangers players. If they’re not going to win next year, they’re probably going to go down as the worst team ever in their history, so it’s massive
pressure for them.’