With Celtic sharing a post on Twitter that Odsonne Edouard scored his fifth and sixth goals for France’s Under 21s on Thursday night, Hoops supporters have been responding with lavish praise of the young striker, although some fear his efforts will soon spark a transfer frenzy for his signature.
Edouard moved to Celtic from Paris Saint-Germain’s academy side in 2018 following an initial season on loan in Scotland, having failed to record a senior outing for Les Parisiens and only making the first-team bench once (TransferMarkt).
The 21-year-old now has 98 senior games to his name with the Hoops, two Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cup and League Cup crowns to his name, and made his France U21 debut in September.
French-Guiana-born Edouard thrived in his first outings for Les Bleus’ U21s after representing his country in their various age groups, with braces against Albania and the Czech Republic. His latest appearance against Azerbaijan on Thursday has now returned another two goals, with the youngster displaying blistering pace to run between the centre-backs and connect with a long-ball from Arsenal’s Matteo Guendouzi.
Edouard collected possession with two men to beat, and drove towards the edge of the box before unleashing a finally placed drilled effort into the bottom corner of the net.
The 21-year-old centre-forward has also hit nine in 17 games for Celtic across all competitions this season, with five in seven Premiership outings.
Fans have now lavished the young attacker with praise on social media, with some suggesting he will be in line for a senior call-up by France soon, should he maintain his current form for club and country.
Here are some of the messages shared:
Eddy is going to be capped by French national team before Dembele!
— CHIZZY (@nchiz7) October 10, 2019
I wanna be Eduoard
— Blair Mackie (@BlairMackie7) October 10, 2019
Makes it looks soooo easy ..cool hand Luke???HH
— decky (@DeckyWinter) October 11, 2019
Edouard goals for France U21: 6
Morelos goals for France U21: 0
Stats speak for themselves
Edouard > Morelos— Michael Gardyne (@GardyneMichael) October 10, 2019
Be hard to hang onto him. Brilliant player
— William Shannon (@TheRisenWS) October 10, 2019
Edouard’s’ efforts for club and country have not gone amiss outside of Celtic, with former Rangers striker Kris Boyd telling Sky Sports (via The Sun) that he believes Manchester United should make a big-money move to sign the Hoops starlet next summer.
The former Gers man reckons Premier League clubs have to be considering a move for Edouard, although a successful pursuit will not be cheap.
“Talk about playing with France, is it a possibility? Yes. Do I think he’ll do it with Celtic? No,” Boyd said. That’ll be in the back of his mind, he’ll need to make that move if he’s going to get in the French squad.
“I don’t think it’ll be January, but come next summer, if there’s something of £25-30million, which is reasonable for me, I think this guy will go to the very top. If I was Manchester United, I would come in and give the £25-30m in the summer.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if a Brighton or an Aston Villa come in and pay the £30m for Odsonne Edouard and then he goes again.”
Numerous Celtic supporters likewise would not be surprised to see a Premier League side move for Edouard following his recent efforts, with one replying to Celtic’s post on the striker’s international display by suggesting the Hoops should delete it before the likes of Arsenal and Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais see it.
The Gunners spent £25m (BBC) in the recent summer window to sign Kieran Tierney from Celtic, while Lyon signed Moussa Dembele from the Hoops in 2018 for £19.7m (BBC).
Delete it before Arsenal and Lyon see it.
— Sean ??????? (@Seany_CFC) October 10, 2019
Announce £50 million buy out clause
— Michael Tiernan ????????????????? (@michael_tiernan) October 10, 2019
Give him a new contract with £1b buy out clause pic.twitter.com/sRz0Uth9o1
— Stephen Craig (@craggy_inland) October 10, 2019
Delete before Arsenal see
— John (@19jhodgkiss) October 10, 2019
Delete this before rich teams see
— Ryan (@ShvednEddy) October 10, 2019
Eh? For any scouts reading this, that’s actually Leigh Griffiths
— Levi (@levihalliday) October 10, 2019
For all of Edouard’s worthy performances this season for Celtic and now for his country on the U21s stage, some Hoops supporters responded to his latest goals by focusing on his more recent efforts in the Premiership.
Edouard entered the international break without scoring a league goal for Celtic in his past two games, which saw the Hoops draw 1-1 with Hibernian before losing 2-0 at Livingston – a result which saw Rangers move atop the table.
The striker also failed to score in a Champions League qualifying tie with CFR Cluj and a Europa League qualifier against AIK in August, as well as Celtic’s opening Europa League Group Stage clash with Stade Rennais in September, all of which were individual games the Hoops did not go on to win.
Wished he played on Sunday….. what ? He did ? ?
— Jamie Whiteford (@seumasabheinn) October 10, 2019
Pity he never scored in our last two games. Just saying !
— Airdrie South Bolingoli (@Scotlandschamps) October 11, 2019
But cant do it against Livingston
— Anthony Harris (@harrisanthonys) October 10, 2019