Hay: Dembele is getting back to top form
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Davie Hay believes that Moussa Dembele is closing in on top form.
Last season the Frenchman was in spectacular form with 32 goals driving Celtic to the treble and making an impact in the Champions League.
Picking up a hamstring injury in the opening game of the season against Linfield hampered his return to action while there was clearly a big question mark over whether he would remain at Celtic through the January transfer window.
Dembele opened the scoring last week at Aberdeen with his second goal of the year ahead of a vital stage of the season.
Over the next month Celtic can close in on two more trophies with Hay encouraged by what he has seen in Dembele.
“What I would also say is that I think Moussa Dembele is slowly showing the form that made him stand out so much last term,” the former Celtic boss told the Evening Times.
“I know that people will point to that first goal at Pittodrie and say that it was just an easy header from a yard out but the thing for me was that there was no way anyone else was getting to that ball.
“He was determined that he was getting on the end of it and then I thought he held the ball up beautifully in the build-up to Kieran Tierney’s goal.
“I have said it before but the hamstring injuries really hindered him and I think that the lack of match fitness meant that it took him a while to get going. I still think that he isn’t yet at optimum match sharpness but it is the closest he has been to it for a while.
“He is shaping up to hit the same heights as last season and although I don’t know the lad personally, he strikes me as a determined character.
“No-one is under any illusions that he came to Celtic because ultimately he wants to get himself a move to a top club down south but he knows himself that the onus is then in him to produce.”
Celtic are hopeful that they can get the go-ahead to play tomorrow’s Scottish Cup tie against Morton with a date expected from the SPFL for the re-arranged match against Dundee.