Celtic Want Away Odsonne Edouard appears to have got his preferred move to Leicester City to be re-united with former Hoops manager Brendan Rodgers. The Times are reporting this morning that a deal has been reached with Celtic selling their talismanic striker for just £15m, around half the valuation the club had hoped to achieve for the player a year ago.
Incidentally Daily Record are claiming that the fee could be higher at £18m but that isn’t what The Times have reported this morning. Maybe they know something The Times doesn’t?
Like many others Edouard was encouraged to stay after a summer in which no bids were received that matched Celtic’s valuation. That meant that the French Under 21 goalscorer was stuck in Glasgow for another season, Ivan Toney returned south from Lennoxtown without putting pen to paper (he was willing to do do) and Celtic instead opted to bring in Albian Ajeti for just over £5m on a permanent transfer after West Ham ruled out a loan option (we now know why).
Edouard was hampered in his final season, the most underwhelming of all during his time in Glasgow, by catching Covid in October and also be the general mayhem all around the place last season. Yet he still ended up as the Scottish Premiership’s leading goalscorer.
Celtic will wait for the arrival of new manager Ange Postecoglou before allowing the deal to go through but what is clear is that Odsonne Edouard’s time at the club is over. Known as French Eddie to the support, who had that brilliant ‘I Wanna Be Edouard’ chant for him, he’ll go on under the elite coaching at Leicester to be a real star in that league.
PSG have an interest in the sell-on but after Celtic’s £10m initial investment is deducted from the calculation it looks like the French side (like Celtic not Champions this year) will have to settle for just £2m. Celtic of course may get the last laugh on that with a similarly hefty sell-on clause in the Edouard deal with Leicester City. Here’s how The Times is reporting the news today.
Leicester City have won the race to sign Odsonne Édouard from Celtic. The coveted 23-year-old is understood to prefer a reunion with Brendan Rodgers, who signed him for Celtic from Paris Saint-Germain for a club record £8million in 2018 after a successful loan spell in Scotland, over a move to either Arsenal or Inter Milan.
The deal is expected to be sanctioned as soon as Celtic confirm their new manager. They are waiting on approval from Uefa to appoint Ange Postecoglou, having agreed compensation with Yokohama F Marinos, his present club. The Australian does not possess European coaching qualifications, so must apply for an exemption based on his experience.
We’ll all wish Odsonne all the very best for the rest of his career and he’ll always remain a popular former player, welcome back anytime he likes. Hail Hail to French Eddie.
Incidentally that’s the second big Celtic story that The Times has broken over this weekend, after their exclusive with former manager Neil Lennon yesterday.
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