ODSONNE EDOUARD is clearly one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe at the moment. The Celtic talisman scored again for the French U21s and there has been a surge of interest in the 22-year-old following Celtic’s costly Champions League exit to Hungarian Champions Ferencvaros – which Edouard missed through injury.
Instead of throwing his toys out the pram, Edouard’s agent said that the ex-PSG man wanted to try and win 10IAR with Neil Lennon saying that that talks were underway to secure a contract extension for their prize asset.
However, Football Insider have reported that Edouard and his agents want a clause inserted into any deal that they agree with the Scottish Champions which determines his value. This release clause would be set in a contract and would mean that buyers have to meet the fee to release Edouard from his contract.
The report also says that both parties are confident of agreeing a deal that would boost Edouard to one of the club’s top earners, inline with his contribution to the club. 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.
This news is promising that Edouard wants to stay and that he wants to help the club protect their asset; however, it could transpire that Edouard has another incredible season and flirts with a full call-up to Didier Deschamps World Champions for the European Champions then Celtic could sell for £35/40m when his value has already exceeded that.
When Kieran Tierney signed his last contract at Celtic his agents agreed with the club a £25m price tag for future transfers and Peter Lawwell held out for every last penny. Everton tried and failed with a cut price approach and it took Arsenal a while before they eventually agreed to pay the full asking price. These days the Gunners reckon they got the bargain of the century as Tierney has become a huge hero among their support.
If Edouard is looking for a similar type of deal then surely that is not unreasonable. But the asking price, as The Celtic Star told you back in February, the Celtic asking price for Edouard is going to be at least £40million.
Unlike Tierney , who came through the Celtic Academy, Edouard arrived from PSG for a fee of around £9.5million and PSG will have a sell-on clause in any deal. Last weekend the Daily Mail claimed that this could be as high as 40%.
Celtic will be looking to make a substantial profit on Edouard. A £40m sale – leaves £30.5m after the initial outlay is recouped. If the Daily Mail is correct PSG will collect £12.2m leaving Celtic with an £18.3m profit.
You suspect that Peter Lawwell will be aiming for a higher profit that he made on the KT sale to Arsenal so the sell-on transfer fee could end up being at least £45million. That’s likely to be the figure if you think things through and have some knowledge of the way Peter Lawwell handles these transfers.
And even at £45million Odsonne Edouard will be as much a bargain as KT was when he signed for Arsenal.
Hopefully a deal is sorted soon though as retaining Edouard for another season would be good for the morale around Celtic Park this season as well as giving the fanbase a huge boost.
