Premier League big guns, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are in the race for Celtic striker Moussa Dembele according to reports with Liverpool planning to launch a £20m bid for the player already. With Danny Ings injured and Sadio Mane set to be away for a month at the Africa Cup of Nations, Jürgen Klopp is in the market for attacking reinforcements.
The 20-year old French footballer signed for Celtic in June this year and has been able to establish himself as an important first team member of Brendan Rodgers’ squad. With a host of clubs linked with him, scouts have been flooding Celtic Park, to watch the youngster in action. It is reported that Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has sent his club scouts on at least five occasions for the player only to have had his resolutions to sign the player strengthened on the basis of the reports.
Dembele spent eight years in the youth academy of Paris Saint-Germain before joining the youth academy of Fulham. His progress was very quick for which he became the part of the club’s U-18 team winning the Premier Academy League in his first season at Craven Cottage.
He made his Premier League debut on November 2013 against West Ham as a late substitute but at the end of the season, Fulham were relegated to the Championship. In the Championship, Dembele couldn’t get games in the first season due to a lot of reasons, one being injury. However, in the 2015/16 season, the Frenchman made a huge impact. Hitting the back of the net 15 times with 6 assists from 43 games, the forward instantly became a target for a lot of top clubs at the end of the season.
Dembele pretty unconventionally prioritised game time rather than money when he chose to join Celtic FC rejecting other lucrative offers from the Premier League due to the fact that they guaranteed him the first team spot.
With 7 goals from 12 games in the Scottish Premiership and 5 goals from 4 games in the Scottish League Cup, the forward has excelled with regular game time for the Hoops. It is reported that Liverpool are willing to pay the 20-year-old around £60k a week to move to Anfield – a substantial pay rise on the £15k a week he currently earns at Parkhead.
It remains to be seen if Dembele accepts the offer having previously turned down other Premier League clubs, but the Frenchman certainly is a player who is worth the fuss with his skills on show for Celtic pretty much each week, scoring plenty of goals despite his young age.
