Celtic Hotshot Moussa Dembele Made The Right Choice By Snubbing Chelsea Offer And It Makes Sense
Celtic striker Moussa Dembele has become the hottest prospect in Europe after his stellar season in Scotland this season. The Frenchman who moved to Celtic in the summer of 2016, on a free transfer from Fulham, has taken entire Europe by surprise with his goal-scoring prowess and finds himself at the top of the wish-list of several top clubs across the continent.
The 20-year old has netted a humongous 32 goals from 46 appearances across all competitions for Celtic this season and has been the driving force behind his team’s unbeaten run in the league.
Though he has been linked with a host of European clubs, the strongest links have come from Premier League giants Chelsea. The league leaders reportedly missed out on an opportunity to sign him for free last summer and have been on the offensive to bring him to Stamford Bridge ever since.
Just a few days ago, it was reported that Dembele turned down a mega contract offer from the Blues. According to the reports, Chelsea offered Dembele a contract worth £65,000-a-week wages, eventually rising to £100,000-a-week in due time. But the 20-year old rejected the offer as he wants regular first-team football.
While a move to the best Premier League side would definitely have appealed to the youngster, he did the right thing, by not jumping the gun this soon and snubbing the Blues over a move in the upcoming summer was rather a good decision.
Dembele has been scoring at will in the Scottish Premiership and there are no questions about his destiny for bigger and better things. However, at this point in time, he is best served staying with the Glasgow club, where he is getting regular first-team action and is also gathering important experience in the Champions League.
Maybe if there was no European football at Celtic, he might have done well to consider a move. But with Celtic being the runaway winners in the league, they will participate in the qualifying stages for the European competition and stand a great chance of getting in. In Brendan Rodgers, he has a manager who trusts him completely and backs his abilities to the hilt, making the situation absolutely ideal for the youngster to continue his development.
Dembele only has to look at Chelsea’s second striker Michy Batshuayi and he will know that a move to West London isn’t what he should pursue. The 23-year old Batshuayi arrived at the Stamford Bridge from French side Olympique Marseille in the last summer, after enjoying one of his finest seasons in the Ligue1, having scored 23 goals in the season.
However, the fact that the Belgian hasn’t started a single game in the Premier League this season sums up his time with the Blues. Batshuayi has impressed each time he has been called upon, he has 4 goals to show for, from 6 cup games and also has a goal in the league. But week in week out, he continues to warm the bench, which is hardly ideal for a footballer of his quality and potential, at his age.
If Dembele were to move to Chelsea in the summer, he would most probably find himself in a similar situation and his development will stall. So, there is no doubt that he did the right thing by rejecting a move to Chelsea and should do so if any other big club comes calling as well and stay put at Celtic for few more years.