HOT PROPERTY
FOUR English clubs eye up swoop for Edouard after Celtic Euro exit
ODSONNE EDOUARD is set to be at the centre of a four-way transfer battle between English Premier League clubs following Celtic’s costly Champions League exit.
The France Under-21 international missed the 2-1 defeat to Ferencvaros on Wednesday which saw Celtic blow a potential £30million windfall.
That has put his suitors on alert, with Everton looking to bolster their forward line and having a long-held an interest in the 22-year-old striker. They regularly scouted him before
lockdown, watching him in back-to-back games against FC Copenhagen and Kilmarnock, as Sportsmail reported in March. There are, however, a number of rivals in the frame, headed by Leicester City whose manager Brendan Rodgers signed Edouard for Celtic from Paris SaintGermain. Leicester would be in a stronger financial position than Everton, having sold Ben Chilwell to Chelsea for £45m earlier this week. Newcastle, whose scouts have contacted Celtic, and Aston Villa are the other sides in the frame for Edouard, who Celtic wanted to tie down to a new contract and lead their quest to win ten titles in a row. While Celtic have offered no encouragement to English sides so far, the loss of £30m from their Champions League exit could spark a mini exodus after manager Neil Lennon’s bombshell admission that some players no longer want to play for the club.
Sportsmail understands midfielder Olivier Ntcham and Norwegian defender Kristoffer Ajer have also expressed the desire to move on, while Wednesday’s goalscorer Ryan Christie has yet to agree terms on a new contract. Skipper Scott Brown, however, has demanded that any unsettled stars continue to give their all so long as they remain at Parkhead. Expressing surprise at the manager’s words, skipper Brown said: ‘For me, the lads want to be here. ‘I don’t know what people have said to him individually, to be perfectly honest. ‘But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if they want to be here or not, once they go on that park, everyone gives 100 per cent, that’s what the gaffer demands. ‘It wasn’t the best performance, we dominated the ball but we have not been clinical enough in front of goal and we were a little bit sloppy with the two goals.’ Asked if he would encourage any unsettled players to speak to him about any concerns, Brown added: ‘Yeah, definitely. ‘I hope everyone wants to be here. For me, it is a fantastic club. There is a lot of lads who love this club that want to see us winning games, that have been here throughout, winning trophies, winning Trebles and we know the feeling and it means so much to us. ‘But for now, if people don’t want to be here, it’s hard. ‘But it’s not up to me whether they stay or not, that is (for) the manager and the board and that’s a discussion with the players that don’t want to be here.’ Edouard will be absent once more for Sunday’s league clash with Motherwell, with doubts over a posse of players now growing. ‘It’s all about how we bounce back, we know what we are going to get in the papers for the next couple of days,’ added Brown. ‘We know we’ve got to get together, we’ve got to be stronger than we ever have been. ‘We’ve been in this situation before and it’s not nice and we don’t want the situation. ‘We are out of the Champions League and it is not what we wanted. ‘Now we need to focus on Motherwell, which is huge — every single league game for us is huge this season, as well as every other season. ‘But it is about the mentality of the whole squad and we need to make sure that we look back at this game and learn. We owe the fans a performance on Sunday.’