Lennon sings Edouard’s praises after international debut – Will the striker stick around?

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been full of praise of striker Odsonne Edouard after the 21-year-old began his international career with the France U21 side.

Edouard made his mark instantly, scoring 4 goals in his first two games against Albania and the Czech Republic.

Speaking to Celtic View, Lennon said,

Playing for your country means a lot to these boys. With France being the world champions, the standard is obviously stratospheric. So for Odsonne to come in and perform so well shows the confidence he’s playing with, not just for his country but for Celtic.
It’s great for the club’s profile and it’s great for the player’s profile. Those two performances will fill him with great pride and it means a lot for these guys to play for their countries.

Edouard is no stranger to the spotlight despite his young career after the Daily Mail reported that Italian giants Napoli, who recently beat European champions Liverpool, are readying a £30 million bid for the wonderkid.

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Lennon may think Edouard’s performances will have a positive effect on Celtic, however, the Hoops would have to be careful of attracting interest from elsewhere, which would definitely not be good for Neil Lennon and Celtic.

This story is very similar to that of former Celtic striker Moussa Dembele, who after impressing at Parkhead, made the switch abraod to Lyon, where things couldn’t be going much better. The 23-year-old has scored 11 goals this season, including 5 goals in 4 league appearances. We also saw Virgil van Dijk make the move from Celtic and has gone on to win the Champions League and be the current favourite for the Ballon d’Or.

Could see a similar experience with Edouard? Time will tell. However, many Hoops fans will be hoping that the Frenchman sticks around for the longterm, writing himself into the Celtic folklore.