With both strikers being linked with a move away from Parkhead, which one is more important to the club?
Both Leigh Griffiths, 27, and Moussa Dembele, 21, have been surrounded by much transfer talk as Celtic’s prolific strikers gain attention from a number of clubs.
This has been the norm for 21-year-old Dembele, who has been linked with a potential move away from Celtic Park from the second he set foot in Glasgow.
Griffiths, however, has gone somewhat under the radar despite consistently scoring goals his entire career, taking things to a new level since his arrival at the Old Firm club. That has all changed now with the Scottish forward finally attracting attention from both down south and further afield.
But who is actually more important to Brendan Rodgers?
The obvious choice would be Dembele who, six years younger than Griffiths, has many more years ahead of him. However, both boast remarkably consistent goal-scoring records for the Hoops, with the only real difference being that Griffiths has been at it for longer.
Griffiths has netted 94 goals in 166 appearances since arriving from Wolves in 2014. Rapidly approaching a century of goals he has scored in an impressive 57% of his outings in a green and white shirt.
Dembele has scored 40 in 70 since arriving from Fulham, meaning he has the exact same scoring percentage as his striking counterpart.
There is no doubt that both are fan favourites, however, as the longer servant to the club Griffiths may slightly edge the Frenchman in terms of popularity.
Former Hoops legend Kris Commons recently went on record in his Scottish Daily Mail column claiming that, “Dembele was disrespecting his teammates,” with his actions following his substitution against Rangers last December.
Commons was referring to Dembele’s choice to walk directly down the tunnel after being taken off rather than join his teammates on the bench and see out the game.
“From a player’s point of view I wouldn’t like it,” Commons added. “If you are injured, yes, you go and get an ice pack on. But it made me think. Is he that bothered? Is the intent there? Is he that bothered about the result?”
As a result of his actions, Commons believes that Dembele had shown he was intent on a move away.
Brighton & Hove Albion have emerged as the latest club to be interested in the former Fulham man. A fee of £20million has been talked about, however, Rodgers has since assured fans that no official bid has been made for the youngster.
As it stands, despite the significantly increased wages, neither player would surely be that keen on either move. After all, why pass up the opportunity to win back-to-back trebles to join a relegation battle in the world’s toughest league.
Should the decision be down to Rodgers, however, over which striker to let go it almost feels like the obvious choice to sell Griffiths would be the wrong one.
The Dembele rumours are not going to go away until the minute he eventually leaves Park Head and when he rose to prominence last year Celtic fans would have known that he would not be emulating the longevity of the likes of Henrik Larsson.
Perhaps the smart decision would be to cut ties with Dembele and take the significantly larger fee to reinvest, keeping the security of Griffiths who you know will perform.
After all, Dembele only cost the club £500,000 (BBC) in the first place.
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