Rodgers weighing up record permanent deal for Edouard
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is pondering a move to give Odsonne Edouard a permanent contract at Parkhead, according to a report in The Daily Record.
The striker who is currently on loan at Celtic from Paris Saint-Germain signed on deadline day in the summer with on loan until the end of the season but with an option to buy.
Edouard is highly rated by the French champions and thought to be worth around £7 million, a deal that would break Celtic’s record transfer fee which has stood for over 15 years since the £6 million signings of Chris Sutton and John Hartson.
Rodgers has picked the 21-year-old ahead of Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths at times this season and is keen to see how he develops over the campaign.
I will assess it at the end of the season. He has grown each week he has been with us. There is no rush. It’s for both sides as well. He might love it with us, he might not. I know he is really enjoying it but there is no rush to commit on either side now.
It’s just a case of seeing how it goes in the second half of the season and we’ll review it then.
His English is getting better through lessons and he’s still only very young at 19 so he has a lot of potential. I don’t have any qualms if I have to put him into a game.
The manager also showed the importance of recruiting another attacker in the summer with injuries and knocks meaning a third striker has been very beneficial to the squad and allowed young Edouard to show glimpses of the quality he has with a goal on his debut against Hamilton and a hat-trick in the 5-1 win over Motherwell last month.
It’s not easy to make it work but you can as long as you give clarity to the players in terms of where they are at. They can only play so many games.
We had a situation last year where we only had two strikers. It’s a tough balancing act. I don’t think you can bring a third striker who is an experienced player.
You are looking for a young talent with big potential who knows where he sits in the hierarchy but is always ready.
By virtue of that it has kept Moussa and Leigh fitter than they were last year.
Edouard could possible be seen as the replacement for Dembele with similar physical attributes and a strong eye for goal. The former Fulham striker is being heavily linked with moves to the Premier League.