Former Glasgow Rangers boss Mark Warburton admits he would’ve loved Celtic hitman Moussa Dembele at Ibrox, if he could’ve afforded him.
Speaking to The Scottish Sun, Former Rangers boss Mark Warburton has described Celtic hitman Moussa Dembele as a “tremendous talent” and revealed that he was aware of him prior to the Frenchman’s move to Glasgow 18 months ago.
The 21-year-old striker has taken Scottish football by storm since joining Celtc in a £500,000 deal from Fulham in the summer of 2016 and has 38 goals in all competitions for the Hoops so far.
Brendan Rodgers avoided having to pay millions for him because of the cross-border transfer loophole which allowed him to pick up Dembele for a minimal training compensation fee.
The former Paris Saint-Germain youth announced himself to Scottish football with a stunning hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Warburton’s Rangers side last September.
Warburton himself had capitalised on the same cross-border regulations that summer to sign Jordan Rossiter from Liverpool, prompting questions as to why he was not in the running for Dembele.
But the now-Nottingham Forest manager reveals that he was well aware of the sensation, though the price of the personal terms made it an impossible deal to pursue.
“I was aware of Dembele’s availability, if I could have done anything about it I would have. The fans seem to forget the fact you might get somebody for compensation, but if he’s on £35-40,000 a week it just smashes your pay structure,” he told The Scottish Sun.
“We couldn’t afford that kind of outlay anyway. If we could have done then, absolutely, I would have moved for Dembele.
“But we were never in the market at that level. Dembele is a tremendous talent who’s obviously benefited enormously from working with Rodgers and the guys at Celtic. Good luck to him.”
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