Edouard tipped to shun transfer talk and remain totally focused

JOHN KENNEDY has backed Odsonne Edouard to knuckle down and ignore transfer talk for the remainder of the season.

The source of persistent interest from clubs in England and abroad, the French Under-21 striker changed agents last week with a view to securing a move in the summer.

Former Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers remains a firm admirer, while Aston Villa and West Ham have joined Leicester in keeping tabs. New representatives the Stellar agency are also sounding out continental options for the forward, whose contract expires in the summer of 2022.

Parkhead assistant boss John Kennedy admits the club have held talks with the 22-year-old to determine his mindset and insists Edouard, purchased for a club record fee of £9million in 2018, remains driven to play for Celtic.

‘Odsonne is fully committed to what we’re doing here,’ said Kennedy.

‘We’ve had chats and discussions with him generally, as we do with all the players, and he’s very motivated to continue to succeed.

‘He realises what he’s been given by the club and everybody here. He’s been given a real platform to become what he has and he’s very thankful for that.

‘Whether it is this summer or three or four years’ time, Odsonne Edouard will give everything he’s got to what we’re trying to do here.’

In keeping with the majority of his team-mates, Edouard has been a shadow of his former self this season.

Kennedy sees signs the reigning Scottish Football Writers’ Association player of the year is returning to his best form and insists he will ultimately broaden his transfer options by improving his level of performance.

He added: ‘With a player of Odsonne’s quality, I’d love him to be here forevermore, but there’s always interest in a player of that calibre.

‘With that there comes a situation where players and clubs are forced to look at the situation. We are not daft enough to think there won’t be interest in him. Of course there will be.

‘We’ll just have to monitor that as it goes but there are two sides to it. If a player does have the motivation to move on and maybe play at a higher level, he has to be doing well at the time to attract the interest and then we get the benefit of the quality of his performances.

‘Odsonne is a very calm individual. He’s never one to get overly stressed or overthink things.

‘In terms of his training here, he’s been first class, he hardly misses a session, and I think in the last little period we’ve seen better performances from him and from the team.’

Celtic, meanwhile, will look to add a central defender during the January window but are set to lose out on a deal to bring Leicester’s Filip Benkovic back to the club.

With Christopher Jullien out for at least three months after damaging his knee in a collision with the post during Celtic’s 3-0 win over Dundee United on December 30, Lennon is eager to bring in another centre-back.

Rodgers had been willing to let Benkovic, who spent the 2018-19 season at Parkhead, return on loan but is now set to farm him out to Belgian club OH Leuven.

Confessing to an interest in the 23-year-old Croatian, Kennedy admits the club will look to bring in a defender during this month’s transfer window.

He said: ‘Filip is one we know very well and with Jullien’s situation, it puts us in a position where we’re lacking a bit of presence there and a bit of cover.

‘So it’s a position we’ll probably try to get a body in.

‘We want to do it as quickly as we can. We’ll move swiftly on it, but within reason and making sure we’re making the right move for the right player.’