Moussa Dembélé has been in fine form since his summer arrival at Celtic Park in June.

The young French forward has scored nineteen goals in his thirty-six appearances for the Hoops.

It’s true that Dembélé had suffered a bit of a lean spell towards the end of 2016 but he scored two in his last three games. So I’m sure he’s itching to get 2017 off to goalscoring start when Celtic come back from their winter break.

His performances have been good enough to see Europe’s top clubs send their scouts to Glasgow to check out the twenty year old’s progress.

It also wouldn’t have gone unnoticed that Dembélé has started making a name for himself with the French under-21s, where he’s scored four goals in four matches.

West Ham’s official website ran a story yesterday which claimed:

‘a bid of £20m – a figure close to the Club’s all-time transfer record – was submitted for a player from Scotland.’

If this is true, then it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that Dembélé would be the player in question.

It’s easy to see why a club would offer such a substantial fee for the young hitman.

Moussa can play as lone striker but he is equally adept to playing up-top as part of a partnership. That offers sides the chance to mix things up tactically.

He has pace to get away from his markers, composure to finish off chances and the ability to score in the bigger games (he has five against Rangers and five Champions League goals). The forward can finish with both feet and has the valuable instinct to be in the right place at the right time.

But the player also has his head screwed on. I doubt he’s in a huge rush to leave Celtic after just six months in the Scottish Premiership. He probably could’ve joined an English Premier League side last summer but knew he’d get more game time in Glasgow.

If he’s already wanted, then surely those suitors will retain their interest until the summer. Plus more clubs could firm up their bids in that period too.

So why would he leave when he has a chance of winning a treble with Celtic? Then maybe he could think about leaving the Hoops with medals around his neck?

It would be a different story if he was a young lad that was just interested in filling his pockets and had greedy advisors steering him away from Parkhead but that doesn’t seem to be the case. French legend and Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has already stated that Moussa would be better off staying at Celtic for at least a full season.

His current boss Brendan Rodgers, has outlined his ambition to hold onto the striker:

“He’s obviously had a very good season and I can’t stop people writing about him or his valuation. But at the moment he’s very happy here and enjoying working and developing.

That’s the reason he came here. He won’t go in January. There’s no question about that. We don’t need to sell. We need our best players here for the remainder of the season to finish the season the best we can.”

So if Celtic are in no hurry to cash in and Rodgers wants to keep him, then I just can’t see him leaving unless West Ham or another club bid £30m or more this month.

The player himself seems to be enjoying his life in Scotland’s biggest city and being a fan favourite for the Hoops faithful. He already has one winners medal and he could end the campaign with three.

So unless ridiculous money is on the table and Moussa Dembélé is offered guaranteed first team football in one of Europe’s top leagues, I just can’t see him departing this early into his Parkhead stay.

Posted on January 6th, 2017 by scott
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