Chris Sutton has paid Moussa Dembele the ultimate compliment for scoring the penalty that took Celtic past Astana into the play-off phase of the Champions League.
That strike could prove to be worth £30m if Celtic get past Hapoel Beer Sheva into the group phase but in one instant Dembele’s character was transformed.
A week earlier it was suggested by Michael Stewart that the former Fulham striker hadn’t celebrated Leigh Griiffiths’ equaliser away to Astana.
Any notions that Celtic had brought in a striker with an attitude to match his petted lip were dispelled when Dembele stepped up and tucked away his first goal in a Celtic jersey.
“That single moment tells you everything you need to know about his character,” Sutton wrote in his Daily Record column.
“I said in my column last week to trust me that Dembele would come good in time. And although it took a penalty kick to open his goal account, that effort suggests he has the mentality to go along with the ability to be a success at Celtic.
“You can’t underestimate how enormous it was for him and for the club. It could prove to be a £20m spot kick.
“Dembele is just 20-years-old, he’s moved to a new country and had to play catch-up in pre-season and he failed to find the net in his first eight games.
“Yet he was prepared to take the ball and stick it away with all that pressure piled on his shoulders.
“It would have been easy for him to pass the buck but to have that confidence, courage and belief in those circumstances was massive.”
Over the last two seasons Sutton has cut a frustrated figure watching Celtic toil through the Europa League.
There is still a lot of work to be done to reach the group stage of the Champions League but under Brendan Rodgers the former striker believes his old club has been transformed.
“I have to confess, I didn’t think this group of players would get anywhere near the Champions League this season,” he added. “I thought they would struggle to get to the Europa League group stages.
“The fact they have that safety net already is bordering on a miracle when you consider Rodgers has only been able to sign two new players and neither of them started against Astana.
“This is the same squad who were completely outplayed by Rangers in the Scottish Cup not so long ago, so you can see the manager has had a huge impact in a short time.
“He’s said himself that he thinks he needs another four players. He’s talking about guys who will go straight in to the starting XI rather than squad men, so the team is nowhere near the finished article as far as Rodgers is concerned.”
