Celtic A to Z – D is for Moussa Dembele

Moussa Dembele’s time at Celtic might have been short – he was at the club for just over two years – but he certainly made a big impact. He was involved with some very good Celtic sides in his time at the club, winning two domestic trebles.

Dembele joined Celtic in the summer of 2016 from Fulham, not long after Brendan Rodgers was appointed manager at the club.

The Daily Record reported that the Hoops had to pay around £500,000 for the player, which in hindsight seems like one of the biggest bargains in club history.

In his time at Celtic, Dembele scored 51 goals in 94 games for the Bhoys, which might not seem like a huge total, but his all-round game was a joy to behold at times, as his performances for the side were consistently excellent.

His first season at Celtic, 2016/17, was a notable triumph for the Hoops, as Celtic won an invincible domestic treble.

The club were undefeated in 38 league games, and also won every cup game in Scotland too, an incredible achievement which will likely never be matched. Dembele scored 32 goals for the Bhoys in that unique season.

Some of Dembele’s performances for the Hoops in his first season will be remembered forever.

The two games which stand out most notably are his double in the titanic 3-3 draw with Manchester City in the Champions League, and his hat-trick in the 5-1 win over Rangers at Celtic Park.

YouTube: Classic Match! Celtic 5-1 Rangers (10/09/2016)

Those games were two of the stand-out matches from Rodgers’ time at the club, and Dembele was integral to Celtic’s success in those games.

The game against Manchester City helped re-establish the Hoops in Europe, and the game against Rangers showed that the Bhoys were going to dominate the Glasgow derby whilst Rodgers was manager.

Dembele’s second season at Celtic wasn’t as prolific, as he scored 16 goals, but he still managed to help the Hoops win a second successive domestic treble for the first time in the club’s history. He once more weighed in with some big goals, such as Celtic’s second in the 3-2 win at Ibrox which all but clinched the league title.

YouTube: Classic Match! Rangers 2-3 Celtic (11/03/2018) | SPFL Classics

Unsurprisingly Dembele’s performances for Celtic caught the attention of many clubs, and although he started season 18/19 at the club, and had scored three goals for the Hoops, it seemed inevitable that he would depart, and so it proved when Lyon signed the player for a reported fee of £19.7m, which is a remarkable total, and there was no way Celtic could turn that transfer fee down.

Dembele is still a Lyon player at the time of writing, but he did spend part of last season at Atletico Madrid on loan.

Only time will tell if the player reaches the heights in France that he did at Celtic, he should be considered one of the Hoops’ best strikers of the last 20 years. He might not have been at the club for long, but he certainly made an impact, and he deserves to be remembered fondly by the Celtic support.