LONDON CALLING

Palace plotting to test nerve of Celtic with bid for Edouard

CRYSTAL PALACE are planning to test Celtic’s resolve over Odsonne Edouard ahead of next Monday’s transfer deadline.

The Selhurst Park club have been monitoring the striker’s development for much of the past year and they are now understood to be actively considering a formal offer.

Celtic, however, remain adamant that the France Under-21s international will not be leaving during the current transfer window.

Aston Villa and Brighton have also been linked with Edouard, but valuations of the 22-year-old are complicated by the substantial sell-on clause that the Scottish champions would owe to Paris SaintGermain following his £9million transfer in 2018.

That means the Parkhead outfit would be seeking a fee significantly higher than the record £25m which was banked from Arsenal for Kieran Tierney last year for any eventual sale.

Celtic sought to rebuff interest in Edouard throughout the summer months, with

manager Neil Lennon reiterating his determination to keep all of his key men for the ten-in-a-row bid following Sunday’s 3-0 win over Hibs. ‘It’s going to be fraught because it’s the last week of the window,’ said Lennon. ‘There could be a lot of people scrambling for players and we are not immune to that, but we don’t want to sell. We don’t want to sell anyone — and I think we are quite strong on that.’ Celtic are keen to conclude incoming business, however, with another left-back still high on the priority list. A final bid for Charlton’s Alfie Doughty is expected, while Casper Hojer of Danish outfit AGF Aarhus is also on the Parkhead club’s radar.