Celtic are hoping to keep hold of Moussa Dembele – but they’ll have to fend off interest from Premier League newcomers Brighton.
13 years ago, Celtic lost their star striker to Barcelona. Flash forward to the present day and The Hoops’ current talisman is said to be on the radar of another club beginning with B – but this is Brighton, not the Catalan giants.
According to The Mail, the Premier League new boys are weighing up a January move for Moussa Dembele – and may test the water with a club-record £20 million bid in the New Year.
But while it appears hugely unlikely that Celtic will sell their star man halfway through a season, and even more outlandish that Dembele would choose to sign for a club who could spent the next half of the campaign in a relegation battle, the fact that Brighton have genuine hopes of signing the best player in Scotland highlights just how bad things have got north of the border.
Celtic are no longer just losing their prized assets to some of Europe’s established elite. Instead, mid-level Premier League clubs now hoover up the talent from Parkhead – Ki Sung Yeung joining Swansea, Gary Hooper going to Norwich, Virgil van Dijk to Southampton and Joe Ledley to Crystal Palace.
And if Brighton, in their first ever Premier League season, do pull off the seemingly improbable and sign a player who scored 32 goals in a stunning debut season for Celtic, it is difficult to get over the feeling that this would hammer home just how far Scottish football has fallen behind its opulent national neighbours.
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