With news this week of an impasse being reached in talks between Celtic and Leicester City over the transfer of Odsonne Edouard, it would be understandable to have an element of excitement come over us as supporters with the thought our French striker may hang around for one last year and assist Celtic’s recovery from a depressing past season.
However, whatever happens with Odsonne Edouard’s transfer to Leicester City there is no chance of French Eddy performing for Celtic next season. Either the discrepancy in respective valuations between ourselves and the East Midlands club will be bridged and Edouard will find himself starting next season as an expensively paid centre forward in the English Premier League – or indeed another suitor steps in to the breach – or Odsonne Edouard will be available for selection and runs down the final year of his Celtic contract before coining it in as a free agent next summer.
If it comes down to the latter, Odsonne Edouard will be a one-man performance of the self-preservation society and Celtic will get little of any effort from the young Frenchman next season. If it is to be the former, then Celtic may have to consider how long they can risk the boardroom financial brinkmanship on show.
That is not a criticism of either party but is the reason why Celtic should be pulling out the stops to get some sort of financial recompense for Edouard this summer and we can all move on. On one hand Edouard can get his big move and bulging pay packet and on the other Celtic can get down to reinvesting at least some of what we receive in a replacement Ange Postecoglou deems suitable for his East End squad revolution ahead of next season.
Edouard was still our top scorer last season and easily remained our biggest asset, but with 12 months left on a deal it would only be human nature for Eddy to look to protect his biggest assets, namely his limbs, next season ahead of a life-changing contract on offer from one of the big European leagues.
Anyone who has made their mind up to leave any job knows their productivity drops off naturally, you are no longer fully invested in your organisation as you have an eye on future plans, as such you’ll go through the motions. You will turn up for work of course but you’ll not even hit 60% of your capability never mind go that extra mile you previously did when you were invested in yourself and your employer.
For Eddy he’ll know fine well last year of deal or not the hammer throwers and hatchet men of Scottish football will continue to see him as fair game. As a result, 50/50 challenges are likely to be passed up by Edouard and putting a head in to where boots fear to tread will not be considered. If we’re brutally honest there were times such a lack of commitment was on show in the season best forgotten, this year fears over being a prime conditioned sellable asset ahead of a transfer will ensure a further drop off in commitment from Edouard.
However, on the other side of all of this is also a man with an eye on the exit door and one who has his own reputation to consider and Peter Lawwell will not be too happy to allow the shallow threats of Edouard’s representatives to become a reality.
Whilst we as supporters look to Edouard’s transfer fee as a route to a squad rebuild for a new manager, Celtic’s outgoing Chief executive would prefer deals for the French striker and preferably Kris Ajer also to be concluded in the next ten days as he looks to leave a suitably balanced set of year end accounts by the 30th of this month. Considering the pandemic impact, he knows balanced accounts will be seen as another sign of his financial wizardry.
Lawwell will also be aware those across the table negotiating for the other side will be acutely aware of his time sensitive predicament, so Edouard’s exit isn’t so much hanging in the balance, instead it is simply a case of when and for how much. For Lawwell and his accountancy ego balancing those books ahead of his handover to Dominic McKay will be of far higher importance than the gaping hole in Celtic’s strike force the Frenchman’s exit will ensure, after all next season’s budget and squad is not his problem.
As much as we’d all like to see a contract extension signed, and Odsonne Edouard committed to Celtic next season, that ship has long sailed. The choice we have now is get the best deal possible for Edouard and allow him to head south or we make a pig’s ear of the negotiations and an unhappy young striker leads the Celtic line next season and we have little in the way of funds to find a more invested alternative.
Whatever happens with both those options we won’t have Odsonne Edouard playing up front for Celtic this season, at least not one we’d recognise.
Niall J
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There’s another option on this topic.
We don’t play players who don’t want to be at celtic next season. Play the players who are committed.
Edouard stopped playing after the first Dundee Utd game when he got a bit of a kicking and the ref didn’t protect him. He never gave 100% again..He wasn’t on his own…Lenny complains about fans etc but really it was a freak year and too many players were planning their exits..Most foreign players are only at Celtic as a stepping stone to millions in bigger leagues…You can’t really blame them…a lot of people are judged on their income or wealth. Fans need to realise that only history and massive support make Celtic a big club..financially they are second rate in Europe, so the kind of players and managers they will get will always have an eye on bigger things..