Celtic haven’t seen the best of their star man this season
Former Celtic stars Mark Wilson and Simon Donnelly have expressed their concerns over Odsonne Edouard’s form.
Although the striker has got back to goalscoring ways in recent weeks, he has generally failed to recapture his previous form this season.
Celtic dominated the opening hour in last month’s derby at Ibrox, but drew a blank and left on the end of a 1-0 defeat after Callum McGregor’s own goal handed Rangers a vital win.
As quoted by the Sun, manager Neil Lennon stated at the weekend that “there’s more to come from him” and “His finishing and work-rate can be better.”
Edouard scored in Celtic’s 2-1 win over Motherwell on Saturday, but Lennon insisted: “He could have had a hat-trick today.”
The 23-year-old’s future remains unclear, with many expecting him to leave Glasgow in the summer. The likes of West Ham, Arsenal, Tottenham and Real Madrid have all been mentioned in connection with the French under-21 international, who has been valued at £35m by the Daily Mail.
Asked by Wilson on the Celtic Huddle podcast if he could understand Lennon’s frustrations with the striker, Donnelly replied: “Yeah, because I think we’ve all seen what he can produce in previous seasons.
“17 is a more than good return and he’s hit a wee purple patch in the last four or five games, but there’s more in there with Edouard.
“We’ve seen it before, whether it was at Ibrox scoring big goals against Rangers.”
Wilson added: “That’s the problem do you not think? 17 goals, but not so many of those big goals.
“And you could argue away from home in Europe he scored a couple of big ones, but everybody always looks at games against Rangers and your contribution, especially at the top end of the pitch when you’re a striker or a winger.
“Does he do it against Rangers? Edouard has done it in the past, he’s not done it this season, has he?”
Donnelly replied: “At Ibrox we all seen how the game went. It was reminiscent of the ’90s until the sending off, but there’s definitely a lot more in the tank with Edouard.”
Asked if the Frenchman was better on his own upfront or in a two, Donnelly responded: “I think better in a two, because he likes to come off, and with (Leigh) Griffiths there who likes to play on the shoulder of centre-backs, it was a perfect foil for Edouard at the start of last year before the lockdown.
“It was what you would expect from Celtic, a lot of creativity and goals, they were blowing teams away, and I thought it really stemmed from the two of them up top.
“I think Odsonne definitely benefits from having another player up there with him.”
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