BRENDAN RODGERS cleared up the situation surrounding the last few hours Moussa Deembele spend as a Celtic player. After just over two years as a model professional a petulant Dembele through his toys of of the pram in order to force Celtic hand and push through his big move back to France to play for Lyon.
He did however say some pretty outrageous things that were clearly untrue and before the player was allowed to depart Glasgow he was forced to admit this in front of Rodgers and senior staff members at the club.
“The whole episode really was disappointing,” Brendan Rodgers said.
“I will say a bit on it then that will be it then. It has obviously been very much one way.
“I had a very close relationship with Moussa, I enticed him to come here with a plan going forward.
“He was, of course, desperate for the move.
“We wanted to try and keep him because we didn’t have another option. But then there was a line that overstepped from a behaviour perspective.
“I have been in this situation enough times to know whether you can pull it back or not.
“I needed to speak to Moussa, and I had a few other senior members of staff with me, and I just asked him: ‘Can you tell the me and the guys in the room here if you received promises from me or any member of Celtic?’
“It was very clear and categoric that he said ‘no’. So once he said that that was fine. I said: ‘You can now go if you can get the move.’
“There is a lot of integrity here within our staff and with our team in how we work. I understand the model here at Celtic – it is very much about these talents coming in, you developing them and then moving them on.
“But there was a lot of stuff that was said that was not so nice and ironically not true. But Moussa has got his move, he is back home, he is happy. Deep down, I know he is a good boy. He has done great for us here and I wish him the very best at Lyon.”
The more you get to know Brendan Rodgers the more delighted you are that he is the Celtic manager – he is a class act.
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