Odsonne Edouard hasn’t played for Celtic since September.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers revealed to The Sunday Post today that it has been a “difficult” period for out-of-favour striker Odsonne Edouard.
The 19-year-old hasn’t played for Celtic in close to two months and even struggles to make Rodgers’s matchday squad on a consistent basis.
But, truthfully, what did he expect was going to happen?
Edouard joined on loan from Paris Saint-Germain but he must have known that his first-team prospects were bleak, based on the fact that Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele were at the club.
Those two are exceptionally good goalscorers in Scottish football and Edouard was never going to nudge his way into contention on a regular basis.
The youngster might have been attracted to life under Rodgers, given the fact that Dembele scored 30 goals under him last season, including some in the Champions League which raised his profile.
You can’t fault Edouard for trying to emulate his fellow Frenchman – who also started off at PSG – but Dembele was the more established player at the time of his arrival, having scored 15 Championship goals for Fulham during the 2015-16 campaign, resulting in speculation of a move to a Premier League giant.
Dembele’s route to first-team football at Celtic was also far less treacherous than it is for Edouard, who is competing with two outstanding strikers, whereas Dembele really only had Griffiths to contend with.
If he’s frustrated with a lack of playing time, which Rodgers suggests might be the case, then perhaps he only has himself to blame.
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