Football Scotland have reported that former Celtic striker Moussa Dembele is set to run down the final year of his contract and leave for free next summer. The news comes after a spate of interest in the powerful forward, particularly in the Premier League – with Erik Ten Haag and Antonio Conte supposedly keen.
There was the train of thought that assumed with the arrival of Alexandro Laccazette from Arsenal in the French city of Lyon this close season, that Moussa would automatically be seeking to gain employment elsewhere as his opportunities may be limited. But now it looks more and more likely that he will stay and fight it out, dashing any hopes the Hoops had of securing a percentage of any potential sell-on fee.
Dembele has been quite prolific for the French side, amassing 67 goals in 146 appearances in Ligue 1. This piqued the interest of Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone a short while ago, who decided to take him on loan to La Liga with a €28 million option-to-buy. Moussa never seemed to hit the heights though and was subsequently sent home to Lyon afterwards. No dice.
Football Scotland also revealed that they had spoken to someone close to the player made the claim that the sell-on fee that Celtic would stand to gain from any potential Dembele sale is not very significant – although whether or not the veracity of these claims is on the money would be mere conjecture.
It would now appear that we will gain no added extra from the career of Moussa Dembele. The windfall had been widely touted for years with him catching fire in Lyon, especially in the Champions League regularly. Now it seems that Moussa is looking to have his pick of clubs and a tasty signing on fee come January. Wherever he goes next I’m sure he’ll be a hit as he’s too good a footballer to fail.
Fancy coming back home to Paradise, big man? You know you’d love it…
🚨 EXCLUSIVE! Moussa Dembele plans Lyon contract expiry as Celtic fear cash windfall nightmare amid Man Utd linkshttps://t.co/xXvlLQ4SCk pic.twitter.com/DR5Qz4dNcf
— Football Scotland (@Football_Scot) July 15, 2022
Paul Gillespie
