Celtic are likely to pursue Odsonne Edouard on a permanent basis this summer.
Pundit John Hartson has told The Scottish Sun that he would offer around £6million for Odsonne Edouard as Celtic consider signing him permanently.
Whilst Brendan Rodgers had two fine goalscorers at his disposal last summer in Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele, but wanted a forward who could come in and play anywhere across the front line.
Rodgers got what he wanted on the final day of the summer transfer window, securing Paris Saint-Germain’s Odsonne Edouard on loan for the season with a view to a permanent move.
Edouard arrived with little reputation, but has impressed in a Celtic shirt, and enjoyed his finest day yet with a two-goal display in the 5-0 thrashing of Rangers on Sunday afternoon.
Edouard’s tally for the season now stands at 11 goals in 27 appearances for Celtic, and many want to see the Frenchman sign a permanent deal with the club this summer.
Much will depend on the money at Rodgers’ disposal, but a deal looks fairly easy at this point, and John Hartson has offered his verdict on the situation to The Scottish Sun.
Hartson advised that Celtic should pay around £6million for Edouard, and go up to around £8million – a club-record fee – if needed, believing that he could be the permanent replacement for Dembele.
“I’m sure he’s a player Brendan Rodgers wants to keep. I think there’s a level Celtic will be prepared to go to and I’d pay £6million for him,” said Hartson. “He’s proved his worth in big games, so would Celtic stretch to £8m on the back of the Champions League revenue from the last two seasons? Are they going to sell Moussa Dembele? Because that would come into it. If they did that would bring in even more funds, but if PSG are being sensible, Celtic would match their price.”
“Let’s be realistic, they paid £4.5m for Olivier Ntcham and the same for Scott Sinclair. Celtic aren’t going to buy anyone for £15-20m because they don’t have that kind of money. If PSG want a lot of money for Edouard, it could be a statement by the club. To keep a manager like Brendan, if he says ‘I really want this player’, they might say ‘This once, we’ll stretch for you’. If the club show that, they might get that little bit back from Brendan in terms of him staying on because he is one of the super-managers, who’s very sought after at the minute,” he added.
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