Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths boost eases pressure on new boy Odsonne Edouard

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Odsonne Edouard has joined Celtic on a season-long loan from PSG and could make his Scottish Premiership debut against Hamilton on Friday.

Leigh Griffiths has been quick to ease any fears that he could miss Celtic’s Friday fixture with Hamilton after limping out of Scotland’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying win against Malta, per the Daily Record, but the sight of the in-form striker suffering another strain may have struck fear into Brendan Rodgers.

Celtic have been forced to deal with plenty of injury problems in the early weeks of the season with Moussa Dembele also absent with a hamstring tear.

Therefore, Rodgers has been forced to shuffle his pack at times with Tom Rogic, Scott Sinclair and James Forrest all starting in unfamiliar centre-forward roles to fill the void – with very mixed results.

Consequently, Celtic’s signing of PSG prodigy Odsonne Edouard on a season-long loan is already looking like inspired business – if only because it eases the concerns about Celtic’s lack of attacking depth if Griffiths and Dembele do not recover as quickly as hoped.

However, with Dembele set to return imminently, per the Scottish Sun, this takes some of the pressure off Celtic’s most exciting summer signing. Otherwise, 19-year-old Edouard may have been thrust into the thick of the action just a week after arriving at Parkhead from the Ligue 1 giants.

In the words of Rodgers himself, Edouard is undoubtedly one of the most exciting young attackers on the continent (Daily Record), plundering a remarkable eight goals at the UEFA Under-17 European Championships in 2015, including a hat-trick in the final against Germany.

However, adapting to a new league is tough even for experienced professionals, let alone a player with just 16 senior appearances to his name.

Therefore, Rodgers will be thrilled about the return of Griffiths and Dembele not only because they signal the return of Celtic’s strongest XI – they also ease the pressure on Edouard to hit the ground running.