Simon Donnelly says Celtic’s Moussa Dembele is not himself

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The former Celt speculated over the youngster’s dip in form, but spoke of his importance to the team, especially with Zenit St Petersburg to play next week.

February must be feeling strangely quiet for Celtic’s Moussa Dembele, 21, after a solid month of making Scotland’s headlines with constant reports regarding his future.

Brendan Rodgers and Celtic did well to hold on the youngster, who has attracted interest from all over Europe since his move to Glasgow from Fulham in 2016.

The French forward enjoyed a magnificent season last year, playing a major role in Celtic’s unbeaten domestic treble, while also flourishing in the Champions League against top class sides such as Manchester City.

This season, however, has been heavily disrupted due to injury, with the entire January window also proving to be a rather unsettling period for the 21-year-old.

With Leigh Griffiths out injured for Celtic’s upcoming Europa League tie against Zenit St Petersburg, it is imperative for the Hoops that Dembele rediscovers his form, if they are to have any chance of making a run in the competition.

Speaking to Open Goal, former Hoops midfielder Simon Donnelly spoke of Dembele’s importance for the Zenit game, but also pointed out that the Bhoys appear to have somewhat lost interest in the current campaign, especially compared to the level of focus they maintained throughout Rodgers’ debut term.

“After the [winter] break they’ve been professional,” Donnelly said, “but the weekend was poor for me.

“Too many players are off the boil, Dembele is not his former self. The transfer window, maybe the head has been turned, I don’t know, he’s still 21.

“He’s a young boy but he is certainly a shadow of last season at the moment.”

With the Partick game this weekend acting as the only remaining warm up for Thursday night’s European tie, it will be interesting to see whether or not Rodgers opts to play both Sinclair and Dembele to allow them to gain some momentum before midweek, or alternatively bench them to avoid further injuries.

There is no doubt, however, that both Celtic stars could do with some confidence going into the Europa League knock-outs, as the team try once again to make a decent run in European competition, something that has escaped the club for quite some time.