Brendan Rodgers as set the record straight about Moussa Dembele’s £20m transfer to Lyon.
The final days of the strikers’ Celtic career were overshadowed by controversy as he tried to force his transfer- something that he admitted to on arrival at the French club.
Dembele was Rodgers’ first signing as Celtic manager and pivotal to the invincible treble that propelled the club forward.
Last season the striker was dogged by hamstring problems but did make himself fit for the bigger matches- scoring in three matches at Pittodrie and Ibrox as well as bullying Sevco into submission in the 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win.
The relationship between Rodgers and Dembele almost seemed like father and son but as he took to twitter to get out of Celtic and spat out the dummy at training on Friday things deteriorated between the two men.
After beating Sevco 1-0 yesterday Rodgers chose to have his say on the issue- drawing a line under a saga that has strengthened his hand and shown his management skills as well as his ability as a coach.
“The whole episode really was disappointing,” he told The Sun.
“I will say a bit on it then that will be it then. It has obviously been very much one way.
“I had a very close relationship with Moussa, I enticed him to come here with a plan going forward.
“He was, of course, desperate for the move. We wanted to try and keep him because we didn’t have another option. But then there was a line that overstepped from a behaviour perspective.
“I have been in this situation enough times to know whether you can pull it back or not.
“I needed to speak to Mouss, and I had a few other senior members of staff with me, and I just asked him: ‘Can you tell the me and the guys in the room here if you received promises from me or any member of Celtic?’
“It was very clear and categoric that he said ‘no’.
“So once he said that that was fine. I said: ‘You can now go if you can get the move.’
“There is a lot of integrity here within our staff and with our team in how we work.
“I understand the model here at Celtic – it is very much about these talents coming in, you developing them and then moving them on but there was a lot of stuff that was said that was not so nice and ironically not true.
“But Moussa has got his move, he is back home, he is happy. Deep down, I know he is a good boy. He has done great for us here and I wish him the very best at Lyon.”
Without Dembele Rodgers increased his unbeaten run over Sevco to 12 consisting of 10 wins and two draws including four wins on the bounce on 2018.