Odsonne Edouard’s links with Crystal Palace and Serie A clubs will not please Celtic. The former Paris Saint-Germain man has done enough to form a connection with the Hoops’ fans and they could be beginning to fear a potential exit already.
They’ve been in this situation before with another former French striker. Moussa Dembele did move from Fulham, but two years after joining he signed for Lyon for a fee of €22million (£19.7 million). Celtic fans would look at that and fear that the same could happen.
Former England international Paul Robinson, when asked about the Edouard exit rumours, told Football Insider: “I think when there’s that kind of money being bandied around, Rangers and Celtic have to look at that.
“Historically players in the Scottish Premier League, their heads are turned when the Premier League comes knocking as you don’t get many opportunities to play in the Premier League.
“It’s a decent figure but I expect Celtic will want more for him and if it something Palace are looking at, then they’ll have to play a little bit more I think.”
And Robinson could be right when it comes to his comments about players having their heads turned. The money that exists in the Premier League can become inevitable after a point and the clubs that have been linked with the striker aren’t small by any means.
Lazio, Roma and Napoli are clubs that consistently ply their trade in some of Eruope’s biggest tournaments, with the first two playing in the Europa League alongside Celtic. Napoli, on the other hand aren’t in the best of spots, but they have already beaten European Champions Liverpool this season.
So far this season, Edouard has found the back of the net 12 times in all competitions for Celtic. He has scored eight times in the Premiership, racking up a tally of five goals as well. One of those goals came in the Old Firm Derby earlier this season- something Rangers’ counterpart Alfredo Morelos is yet to do.
In Europe too, Edouard has impressed. He has played 11 times in Europe this season, scoring four times and assisting five times too.
When he had joined, he was the Dembele replacement that Celtic needed. He has certainly lived up to the tag. The club had received £19.7 million from Dembele’s fee, but a fee like that is rare in today’s game.
Edouard has arrived from Paris Saint-Germain for £9million – another fee that could be considered pretty small for a Premier League club. The way he has performed this season, perhaps his value may have even doubled and more.
Palace are currently lacking a striker who has that ruthless scoring streak. Christian Benteke’s move doesn’t appear to have worked out at all. Wilfried Zaha isn’t a striker and Jordan Ayew isn’t a proper centre-forward either.
For a manager like Roy Hodgson, a burly striker is a key to Premier League survival. None of the players he has this season guarantees 15 goals a season and that is why the club had signed Michy Batshuayi on loan from Chelsea last season.
As for Roma, Lazio and Napoli – their striker arsenals are stacked with talent. The Partenopei enhanced it with the signings of Fernando Llorente and Hirving Lozano. Roma signed Nikola Kalinic to have the Croatian act as the second-fiddle to Edin Dzeko. Lazio have Ciro Immobile, Felipe Caicedo and Joaquin Correa.
It shows that Palace are more in need of a striker than the three Serie A sides. And being a Premier League club that would be desperate to survive the drop come January, they could splash out big money on signing a striker.
It isn’t impossible that they offer the Hoops £25million to £30million for Edouard. A fee like that should be enough for Celtic to let the player go. For that money, the club can easily go out and get another striker who can get them about 20 goals a season.