Aston Villa and Newcastle are looking to add attacking quality and depth to their squads this summer, and with one of their targets being Odsonne Edouard, they may have just received a boost in trying to capture his services.
Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League last night after being dumped out of the qualifiers to Hungarian side Ferencvaros – Edouard missed the game because of an injury.
The Daily Mail did previously claim that the Magpies would be willing to spend big on the £40 million-rated man despite a hands-off warning from the club, whilst the Sun also reported that Villa made contact with the Scottish side about the availability of their player.
Just for starters, it would be tough for Villa and Newcastle to prize away the Frenchman from Scotland because they are trying to win an elusive and historic ten titles in a row.
But with no Champions League football on the horizon for the Scottish champions, this should surely alert those at Villa Park and St James’ Park to see whether it turns Edouard’s head in moving down south during this window.
Previously, the Bhoys could bat it away, use them wanting to get ten-in-a-row and playing in the Champions League as reasons to keep hold of their player – something which the Premier League duo couldn’t provide, but nor can Lennon’s men now.
Celtic’s record transfer sales
- Kieran Tierney
£25 million (Arsenal)
- Moussa Dembele
£19.7 million (Lyon)
- Victor Wanyama
£12.5 million (Southampton)
- Virgil van Dijk
£11.5 million (Southampton)
- Fraser Forster
£10 million (Southampton)
And whilst the main course for Celtic is winning that title, the fact that they won’t be playing in the Champions League could prove to be a bit of a worry because no-one at Parkhead would blame Edouard for wanting to part ways now.
There’s no doubt that it’s still going to take serious dough to lure him away, but the English clubs should just test the waters and put an offer on the table to see what type of reaction they get from the Frenchman.
Edouard has to be credited because, despite all the rumours about his future, his form and attitude has been top-notch of late, that cannot be said of a certain player across Glasgow.
Either way, it will be interesting to see if Villa or Newcastle now use Celtic’s failure to reach Champions League football, added with a big pot of money, to try and persuade Edouard to come to England because many would agree that some time down the line that’s where he will end up.
The Celtic fans will be hoping he would have helped them to the ten before he does leave.
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