Celtic legend Chris Sutton joined Craig Swan on the latest edition of the Record Celtic podcast and the former striker spent some time talking about the form and future of current Hoops frontman Odsonne Edouard during the show.
It may be fair to say that Edouard hasn’t been in great form of late. The centre-forward has managed to score nine goals in his 19 competitive appearances for Neil Lennon’s side this term, five of which have come in the Premiership, however, three of those five Premiership goals came in Celtic’s opening game of the 2020/21 campaign versus Hamilton Academical and he’s managed to score just once in his last seven games in Scotland’s top-flight.
In the summer, a host of European clubs, such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton, Leicester City, Lazio, Napoli and Monaco were reported to be ‘admirers’ of the £13.5m-rated centre-forward and now, Sutton has shared that he believes Edouard’s current “malaise” could damage his chances of securing a “big move” away from Parkhead.
The pundit said: “What we do know is, is that there is a player in there, and I’ve been there myself as a centre-forward and I’ve spoken before about hesitation – he seems to be hesitating. [He] may not be getting the break of the ball at this moment in time, but there’s something where he isn’t being really proactive in and around the box and that’s a problem for him.
“He has to get himself out of this malaise himself by showing great determination, great desire – I’m not [saying] that he’s not trying, of course he is, but the bigger picture is that Odsonne Edouard isn’t going to get his big move away to another big club in Europe unless he starts performing, and he hasn’t done enough this season. So people watching him, they will be having doubts about him, I’m absolutely sure of that.”
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TIF Thoughts on what Sutton had to say about Odsonne Edouard’s ‘big move’…
There is certainly an argument to be made that Edouard’s stock might drop unless he can start producing the form that he showed in previous seasons at Parkhead which earned him all of this alleged attention in the first place.
No Hoops player scored more goals than Edouard in the UEFA Europa League or the Premiership in either the 2018/19 campaign or the 2019/20 campaign. However, this season, Mohamed Elyounoussi is the Hoops’ top goalscorer in both of those competitions.
Hopefully, for Celtic, he can return to his previous performance level sooner rather than later, before his market value drops, as it’s understandable if potential buying clubs are developing concerns about splashing out on Edouard due to his form, as Sutton suggested may be the case, especially as revenue earned via player sales has an important impact on Celtic’s finances.