Celtic interim John Kennedy dismisses “too cheap” £15m fee talk for an Odsonne Edouard who is “easily” the equal of Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele
Sources close to the club have dismissed reports a deal in this price range has been broadly agreed that would reunite the Frenchman with former manager Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City. And Kennedy suggests the club’s development reputation negates any need to sell major assets for modest sums - especially for a striker whose talents he maintains are the equal of Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele.
“That [£15m fe] is far too cheap for my liking,” he said with a chuckle of the apparent valuation of the 21-goal performer approaching the final year of his contract, and who has been named the player of the month for February. “With Celtic, any club like ours, when you have good players, they will always attract attention. That’s always been the case for as long as I’ve been here.
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Hide Ad‘It needs to be right for everyone – but we want to keep our best players for as long as we possibly can. He’s a terrific lad, really good to work with. And, when he’s on his game, he’s the top striker in the country – without a shadow of a doubt. There comes a situation in terms of the remainder of a player’s contract and his motivation, plus doing the right thing for the club [in] selling at the right time.
“It happens every season. We have had conversations about Kristoffer Ajer. [From] bringing players to the club or bringing them through you’ll have noticed, transfer fees have increased. The more you’re able to develop good players and watch them succeed elsewhere, the more you can ask for because other clubs realise that they’ll be getting a good product when they buy from us.
“Odsonne is a top talent, he has all the attributes, but can develop. Top strikers are all killers – they get goals by putting themselves in there all the time to do that but it will come for him. I see how he works, I have seen Virgil working and I have seen Moussa Dembele working, and all the top guys. He has as much quality and talent as them. Easily.”
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