Everton allegedly pursued Celtic’s Moussa Dembele over the summer.
Former Celtic scout David Moss has told the Daily Mail that Everton asked him about a possible move for Moussa Dembele – and believes he will now cost more than £30million to sign.
After hitting 17 goals for Fulham in the 2015-16 season, French striker Dembele moved on to Celtic at the end of his contract, with the Bhoys landing a major bargain.
The 21-year-old smashed 32 goals in 49 games for Celtic last season, and many expected him to move on over the summer amid strong Premier League interest.
However, a hamstring injury over the summer kept Dembele out for a considerable period, and Premier League clubs seemingly decided to move on rather than pursue him whilst injured.
Dembele started this term behind Leigh Griffiths in the pecking order, but has now hit six goals in 12 games for Celtic this season, and his record for the France Under-21’s stands at seven goals in 10 caps.
The youngster is bound to attract more and more interest as he continues to score for Celtic, with many fans aware that a move to the Premier League in the future seems almost inevitable.
Now, former Celtic scout David Moss has revealed to the Daily Mail that Everton actually contacted him over the summer to ask about a possible deal for Dembele, and Moss told the Toffees to not even think about it, and to sign him if they could.
Whilst Moss called it a ‘no-brainer’ for Everton to sign Dembele as Romelu Lukaku’s replacement, he now believes that he would cost more than £30million – and thinks Dembele will only leave Celtic for the right club.
“Everton were a club who phoned me up about him. They said: “David, what do you think?” I said: “Don’t even blink, don’t even think about it, sign him. It’s a no-brainer”. If I was in charge of a Premier League club I would have moved for Moussa at the end of last season,” said Moss. “Anybody who knows Moussa knows he has a big-game mentality. He is a natural goalscorer. With all this money awash in the Premier League I am at a loss as to why clubs didn’t take him. But they haven’t because they don’t like Scottish football or ‘he can’t do this or he can’t do that.’”
“If you really know your football you know he should have been signed. Back in the summer Moussa had a hamstring injury – clubs could possibly have got him for £20m or £25m. Now he’s back fit and scored a 12-minute hat-trick for France under-21s in midweek. If you get Moussa Dembele for £30m now you have won a watch.”
“Moussa is not going to go to any old club from Celtic – it has to be right for him. He is not going to go to a Huddersfield or a Bournemouth. In January, it depends what Brendan (Rodgers) wants to do. He will want to win the Europa League and he’s not going to let Moussa go unless it’s too good to turn down and he has somebody else lined up to replace him,” he added.
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