Celtic today announced new manager Brendan Rodgers had made his first signing by bringing in young French hot-shot Moussa Dembele from Fulham.

It’s a real coup for the Scottish champions as he arrives after his contract expired with the English Championship side, meaning that the Hoops will only need to fork out around £500k in compensation for the striker. That’s a bargain price for a player who Tottenham Hotspur bid £6m for in January and who was reportedly interesting Arsene Wenger and Arsenal earlier in the summer.

But Rodgers has stolen a march on the rest of those interested in Dembele and tied him down. The attacker will believe that he can break into the Celtic starting eleven straight away and have a chance to shine in the Champions League.

That kind of exposure will only benefit the player, who impressed last term with his seventeen goals for the Cottagers.

The nineteen year old has put pen to paper on a four year deal, which means that Celtic will be hoping that he stays in Glasgow for at least two years and impressing richer sides who will then splash the cash for his services when the time is right.

I know that it seems to be in bad taste to suggest a club the size of Celtic are a stepping stone for a youngster like Dembele but that’s where we are at the moment with Scottish football. Plus to be honest surely it’s better to see young talent develop into stars, rather than continually sign ageing veterans who hold little to no transfer value and who have lost their legs or/and ambition.

Pus let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, Celtic fans should just wait and see what type of player they’ve signed, then enjoy what they see. Moussa has been selected ten times for the French under-19 team and returned with five goals. He is a goalscoring forward who has both strength and pace. He is also composed in front of goal, which is sometimes unusual for one so young.

At Fulham, Moussa enjoyed a strong striking partnership with Scottish forward Ross McCormack. That should mean that Brendan Rodgers will partner Dembele with Leigh Griffiths and if they can gel, then the rest of Scottish football could be worried about having to face the deadly duo.

When I saw that Celtic were interested in Moussa Dembele, I’m not going to lie I scoffed. I really didn’t think that they could beat off stiff competition from top European sides to get him up to Glasgow. But well done to the deal makers at Parkhead, they’ve managed to bring in Brendan Rodgers first signing and it’s a statement signing too.

Hopefully Moussa will go on and reach his potential at Celtic Park and bring in lots of foreign press and scouts to our game. It shows that with some smart thinking Scottish sides can still find gems and bring them to our league!

Posted on June 28th, 2016 by scott
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