ODSONNE EDOUARD has tested positive for COVID-19, the French Football Federation has confirmed. A statement on the French website confirmed that the 22-year-old had tested positive in their latest rounds of testing/
“Odsonne Édouard will not participate in the France-Liechtenstein and France-Slovakia matches, counting for the qualifiers for Euro 2021.
“The result of his Covid-19 test carried out by UEFA this Tuesday morning, October 6 having been positive, Odsonne Édouard was sidelined from the group upon receipt of the results, at the end of training . He was then placed in isolation.
“All other tests carried out on the entire delegation, staff members and players, have come out negative.”
There is a hope, as there was with Hibs player Gogic that it would be a false positive. However, the news almost certainly rules him out of the Rangers game on October 17. Ten days isolation follows a positive test; however, Edouard is in France and likely won’t be able to do any fitness work on his own. Protocol means that the club will need to carry out tests to make sure that he didn’t contract and spread the virus whilst he was with his teammates.
The Frenchman was in incredible form last season, scoring 28 goals and notching 12 assists in 45 appearances in all competitions as Celtic steamed towards matching Jock Stein’s 1974 record. Now, with a new deal behind him he can be the man to fire us to 10IAR.
Hopefully when back, Edouard shows the form of last year as opposed to a lacklustre few games in the past. Edouard is of the upmost importance to Celtic’s 10IAR bid and if this means managing his game times to avoid injuries then it is important that we do that.
Competing on all fronts is very important but this season, there’s only one thing that matters and that is the coveted 10IAR. Lennon will know that rotation and use of the squad is good but the scare that Livi gave will hopefully galvanise the aide into focusing until the final whistle.
