Moussa Dembele reportedly wants to leave the Scottish Premiership for Ligue 1 side Lyon and Celtic should look at Burton Albion for his successor.
Moussa Dembele is far from happy with Celtic’s decision to block his deadline-day move to Lyon, as reported by Sky Sports (live blog, 1.05pm). But you can understand the stance being taken by Brendan Rodgers’ side.
The Northern Irishman insisted, in quotes compiled by the Mail, that Celtic would be unwilling to let Dembele go without a successor lined up. And they would be in a race against time to find someone capable of filling his boots with the transfer window shutting at midnight tonight.
“You certainly can’t let your top striker move on without even having anyone to come in and replace (him),” Rodgers said.
But what about Liam Boyce?
Cynics will certainly argue that Boyce is not a player with the same class or potential as Dembele but he did win the Golden Boot in his most recent season in the Scottish Premiership, scoring 23 times for an average Ross County side in 2016/17.
And after missing much of last season through injury, Boyce is finding his form again at Burton Albion. The Northern Irish international has four goals in seven games this season and is attracting interest from bigger clubs.
The Belfast Telegraph claims that Burton value him as low as £1 million – which would make Boyce a low-cost and low-risk signing for Celtic should Dembele finally get his way.
He would not be the man to take Celtic to the next level but the former Staggies star could provide a regular source of goals in Dembele’s potential absence.
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