Celtic’s sheer dominance in Premiership has continued this season too as they are on course of winning successive trebles under Brendan Rodgers. Rangers’ downfall has made the Scottish top flight a one-horse race and the Hoops are ahead by miles in terms of quality and foundation. The ex-Liverpool gaffer has concentrated on the youth development and brought in several promising starlets to flourish under his sincere guidance. A few of them are now featuring regularly at Parkhead and drawing the attention of several Premier League sides as a reward for their hard work and promising performance.
Odsonne Edouard is one such name who joined the Hoops on loan from Ligue 1 heavyweights Paris St-Germain and did well to adjust to life in Scottish football. The 20-year-old French youth international forward scored on his debut versus Hamilton Academical and also notched a hat-trick against Motherwell back in December. Although the striker has mostly been utilized from the bench, Edouard has scored 8 times so far in limited game-time and convinced Rodgers to consider an extension of his stay in Glasgow.
He scored minutes into his introduction in Old Firm derby and led the Bhoys to clinch a dramatic derby win over Rangers at Ibrox. They came back twice from behind and despite being down to ten men in the second half, Rodgers’ masterstroke of introducing Edouard knocked down the Gers yet again.
The player, meanwhile, holds a release clause in his contract and the Hoops need to meet the price tag to buy his services. Although the reports of a £7 mil release clause are wide of the mark, Rodgers’ still need to offer a good chunk of money to make his move permanent. Celtic are not blessed to spend as much as the giants of Europe and the gaffer is restricted to work on a shoestring in Scotland. He thus is weighing up the circumstances before deciding on Edouard’s future and has stated the same while discussing what’s next for the promising attacker at Parkhead.
“We have to respect he’s a PSG player, not a Celtic player.
“There is a clause in the deal. The clause is there and there’s been an agreement – but we would need to trigger the fee.
“There’s a lot to do in terms of the bigger picture too. In time we’ll see. He’s a fantastic player and we’ll see between now and the end of the season.
“But he’s settled in well and if we have any chance to do something at the end of the season then we can look at that.”
Rodgers is content with Edouard’s adjustment to life in unfamiliar surroundings and adapting to the pacy, aggressive and attacking nature of Scottish football. Moussa Dembele’s move to Brighton & Hove Albion collapsed in summer but the French forward might be a man in demand this summer. Patrick Roberts will return to Manchester City upon expiration of his loan spell and Scott Sinclair, the veteran winger, is also being targeted by AFC Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion as they are planning to offer him a return to English football.
Rodgers thus might have to reconstruct his attacking third and must not let Edouard return to his boyhood club particularly after developing such a decent impression in his maiden stint abroad.
