Marseille could offer Valere Germain to Celtic in a potential player-plus-cash bid for Moussa Dembele, according to France Football.
The French news outlet claims that the Hoops want up to £18.1million for Dembele, but Marseille may have to cash in on some of their existing players like 5ft 9 (transfermarkt) forward Germain and Clinton N’Jie if they are able to afford the Hoops ace.
It is understood that the Ligue 1 club have considered several strategies as they aim to sign Dembele before Friday’s transfer deadline in France.
Good move for Celtic?
Germain is not a bad player and would likely do well in Scottish football, but he is not better than Dembele and Celtic should only really consider this if Marseille are willing to offer a lot of cash.
Germain has scored 19 goals in 58 appearances across all competitions for Marseille since joining them last summer.
He has played a lot of football and helped the French club reach the Europa League final, but his record in front of goal is not amazing.
The ex-Monaco ace should be able to cover the goals scored by Dembele, but as he is 28-years-old, he is nowhere near as valuable.
This is Futbol rating 6/10
Likely to happen?
Player-plus-cash deals really aren’t that common and seem to appear more in media speculation than they do in reality.
Brendan Rodgers is not going to accept anything for Dembele unless it is a substantial amount of cash that will allow him to go out and sign a young forward who can hit the ground running in Scotland.
That is not going to be easy to do, so the likelihood of the Hoops cashing in on the Frenchman is very low.
This is Futbol rating 2/10