Why Celtic Must Splash £7million And Sign Odsonne Edouard Permanently
Celtic have an option to sign Odsonne Edouard for £7million from French heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain at the end of his loan spell, according to reports from the Daily Record.
The 20-year old striker joined the club at the start of the 2017/18 campaign on a season-long loan and a clause in the deal between the two clubs permits the Hoops to land the player for a fee of £7million if they want him on a permanent basis. So, should Celtic shell out the money for the Frenchman?
Edouard arrived at Celtic with a reputation of being a lethal marksman throughout his youth career with PSG. The striker had earned the nickname “Rocket”, after having amassed over 60 goals in two years for the youth teams for Les Parisiens. So his signing was met with some degree of excitement at the start of the season.
However, things did not begin all that well for Edouard, as he struggled to make a sustained immediate impact for the Scottish champions despite having scored and assisted a goal each on his debut against Hamilton Academical in September.
Despite his slow start to life in Scotland, the Frenchman has started to prove his worth recently and is living up to the enormous potential he has. Till date, Edouard has managed to score 8 goals for Brendan Rodgers’ side from 23 appearances in all competitions, along with 3 assists.
Of those 23 appearances, only 10 have been from the start and given that he has had such limited game time, the returns he has come up with are more than decent. So far this season, the 20-year old has been directly involved in a goal once in every 90.81 minutes, which is highly impressive.
His latest exploit this past weekend when he came on as a substitute against Celtic’s bitter most rivals Rangers, to score the winner and fire his team to a 3-2 victory at the Ibrox Stadium, has only enhanced his popularity among the Hoops fans.
The 20-year-old has pace in abundance and is strong and cuts an imposing figure at the tip of the attack. He has the ability to run past defenders with ease, owing to his excellent dribbling and close control, which makes him a very potent threat to have in the team’s ranks.
Edouard may have endured a difficult period in the early parts of his spell at Celtic but is slowly carving out a reputation for himself with some impressive displays and is starting to live up to the promise he had shown in his youth career. So, shelling out £7million for him in the summer should be a no-brainer for the Scottish champions.