Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard has revealed that he was ‘angry and disappointed’ during the early period of his time at Parkhead.
Edouard was recently interviewed on the French ‘Destin 2 Pro’ podcast and was asked about his journey at Parkhead so far. Edouard talked about how he was ‘angry and disappointed’ early on in his time at Glasgow, with the interview transcribed and translated to English by Celtic France via Twitter.
Edouard had initially arrived at Celtic on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017, before signing permanently in the summer of 2018 (via Transfermarkt).
When talking about how he struggled to settle in at Glasgow, Edouard said: “When I first arrived at Celtic it wasn’t easy, I played 3-4 games and after [that], I wasn’t even on the bench. Moussa [Dembele] and Leigh [Griffiths] scored a lot. There was competition in the team. [It] was a difficult period for me. I was lucky to have Kolo Toure in the staff.
“Kolo Touré helped me a lot, talked to me all the time. After training, I stayed [for] 30-40 minutes with him to work more. I never gave up, I stayed focused and serious. I was waiting for the manager to give me a chance to shine. The most important thing is to take your chance.”
The Frenchman also said: “The manager came to see me in the middle of a week and told me I was going to start [at the] weekend. Two weeks before, I played with the reserves. I was angry and disappointed. I was thinking about lots of things at this time: ‘Why did I come? I should have stayed in Paris.'”
Do you think Edouard will leave Celtic this summer?
Yes, he'll leave
No, he's staying
Clearly, Edouard went through a tough phase early on in his Celtic career. The 2017/18 campaign saw him score 11 goals in all competitions and he racked up four assists in a total of 29 games (via Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts…
While it is normal to take time to settle into a new country, Edouard’s goal contribution tally of 15 in the 2017/18 season remains the lowest of his Celtic career (via Transfermarkt).
He has now come on leaps and bounds at Parkhead, having won the club’s Player of the Year accolade in the 2019/20 campaign. He also finished as the highest scorer in the Premiership, scoring more than the likes of Jermain Defoe and Alfredo Morelos.
This shows that he has learnt from the tough experiences early on to mature as an individual. Celtic fans should count themselves lucky that the Frenchman didn’t return to PSG early on in his Parkhead tenure.