Charlie Nicholas’ Nonsense Edouard Claims

CHARLIE NICHOLAS has once again proved that he cares little for Scottish football by claiming that Odsonne Edouard isn’t ready for a move to Arsenal as well as ignoring Neil Lennon’s comments about offering Edouard a new deal at the tail end of March. The Sky pundit believes that Coronavirus has foiled Celtic’s plans to sell Edouard this summer, despite the obvious target at the end of next season looming large.

Last month Lennon spoke to BBC 5Live and confirmed that he was keen to extend Edouard’s stay at Celtic Park beyond the two years that remain.

“Ideally we’d like to sit down with him.

“The landscape has changed from where we were a month ago to now. There’s no doubt about that.

“It’s uncertain. Ideally you would like to keep your prized assets for at least another year anyway.”

Nicholas appears to have forgotten that Celtic are on track for a record-equalling Nine-in-a-row and that after that, would be chasing ten. However, that hasn’t stopped ‘Champagne Charlie’ from suggesting that Celtic were keen on selling the 22-year-old this summer, with a move to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal touted. Nicholas believes that French Eddy isn’t yet ready for a move to the 9th placed London side whilst talking to Sky Sports.

“He could certainly play at Arsenal because the way they play, his style would be more than suitable for it.

“The problem is getting the judgement right over whether he’s ready right now, playing every week for Arsenal compared to who is there already. I’m a big fan of Alexandre Lacazette, and Edouard has got quite a bit of Lacazette in style within his game.

“He certainly would not come to England straightaway and score 20 to 25 goals in a season unless Arsenal find a renewed belief and they get the whole team right.

“It’s got potential, absolutely, but I’m not convinced that they will go and buy him. The reason is that in Scotland, Celtic are gauging him as a £40m player.

“This will come down to what Edouard wants. If he wants to leave, then he will leave. Celtic will take the cash rather than have a player who is not committed to the cause because historically that’s what they have done – with Dembele, Virgil van Dijk and Kieran Tierney.

“He has to go to a side that plays him. He can play with a partner and he can play on his own, but he must play in a team that’s going to give him a lot of service. If he plays in a side that sometimes gets 40 per cent of possession, he will find it really tough to adapt.

“His attitude has improved sufficiently enough to tell me he will become a top player but I am not quite convinced teams will yet be looking at him as a £40m player. But the current market, with the coronavirus likely to impact the value of players, this will play a crucial part.”

Moussa Dembele left Celtic for Lyon for £20m in what was a shockingly low transfer fee for the player but due to the fallout with Brendan Rodgers, the club were caught cold by the French side. Dembele is now being spoken about in a bracket between £80-100m for a potential transfer fee.

“Although the big clubs have big money, it’s been pulled in. Football is going to take a short-term kicking, financially, and a lot of clubs are going to be re-assessing their transfer budgets.

“Clubs may have to accept what they have in many cases, and only spend sparingly. The timing could put any move into jeopardy.”

From what Nicholas has said he reckons that Edouard may not yet be ready to move to Arsenal, a club that reside in 9th position. Despite the firepower that Nicholas alludes to – Aubameyang and Lacazette, the Gunners are toiling through another underwhelming, mediocre season.

With that said, Celtic will be happy enough to hang onto Edouard for another year and allow him to become the record fee received next season (after, of course, we have won 10IAR).

The success over the past few seasons in terms of European involvement and player sales should mean that Celtic will be able to come out of this period of uncertainty relatively unscathed. Therefore, there should be no rush to sell Edouard until we receive fair value.

If the rumours about our new magnificent seven are true, Edouard knows that he can become a legend at Celtic Park if he stays just one more year.

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About Author

Born just as Celtic were stopping the Ten, Lubo98 follows Celtic home and away and helps run his local Celtic Supporters Club. He goes to all the games and is a Law Graduate. Has a particular fondness for Tom Rogic among the current Celts and both Lubo and Henrik form his earliest Celtic memories.

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