‘Everton missed a trick with Dembele’
THE scout who lured Moussa Dembele to Celtic has revealed how Everton asked his advice over a £30million bid for the striker after selling Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United. David Moss, who quit as Celtic’s head of scouting in June to take up a role as
Huddersfield Town’s head of football operations, told Sportsmail: ‘Everton were a club who phoned me up about him. They said: “David, what do you think?” I said: “Don’t even blink, don’t even think about it, sign him. It’s a no-brainer.”’ They failed to follow through on their interest but Moss, credited with doing the groundwork which took Dembele from Fulham to Parkhead for £400,000, insists it’s only a matter of time before the French Under-21 international leaves Glasgow for one of Europe’s top clubs. ‘If I was in charge of a Premier League club I would have moved for Moussa at the end of last season. ‘Anybody who knows Moussa knows he has a big-game mentality. He is a natural goalscorer. ‘With all this money awash in the Premier League I am at a loss as to why clubs didn’t take him. ‘But they haven’t because they don’t like Scottish football or “he can’t do this or he can’t do that”. ‘If you really know your football you know he should have been signed. ‘Back in the summer Moussa had a hamstring injury — clubs could possibly have got him for £20m or £25m. ‘Now he’s back fit and scored a 12-minute hat-trick for France Under-21s in midweek. ‘If you get Moussa Dembele for £30m now you have won a watch.’ Despite the reluctance of English top-flight sides to commit, Moss believes Dembele could join a top club in the summer. ‘Moussa is not going to go to any old club from Celtic — it has to be right for him,’ he said. ‘In January, it depends what Brendan (Rodgers) wants to do. He will want to win the Europa League and he’s not going to let Moussa go unless it’s too good to turn down and he has somebody else lined up to replace him. Otherwise, it’s more likely to wait till the summer.’ Celtic boss Rodgers believes Dembele could force his way into France’s World Cup squad if he continues in his current vein of form. The striker’s hat-trick for the Under-21s against Slovenia on Monday followed five goals in his last five Celtic appearances. ‘Well, he can do no more,’ said Rodgers ahead of today’s trip to Ross County. ‘The only thing is a group of really talented players in front of him. But if he keeps knocking on the door, you never know.’