It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book, link your opponents’ top player with a transfer ahead of a vital match.
During the summer as Kieran Tierney edged towards joining Arsenal there were a few suggestions that Odsonne Edouard may be joining the defender on the way out of Celtic.
Predictably Leicester City got a mention but from Italy Napoli and Lazio were being credited with an interest in the French striker.
Edouard is under contract with Celtic until 2022 but the length of a contract tends to be to protect his transfer value with Virgil van Dijk, Moussa Dembele and Victor Wanyama leaving after just two seasons of Scottish football.
It seems that interest in the former Paris Saint Germain striker wasn’t converted into concrete bids but with nine goals this season for the French u-21 side there is certain to be renewed interest in Edouard during the January transfer window.
Asked by an Italian reporter if he thought that Edouard might end up joining Lazio Lennon said:
Hopefully not! There’s going to be constant speculation regarding Odsonne if he continues in the form that he is in, we can’t stop the speculation. However, he is very happy here, we are very happy with him.
We can’t stop his progress, if he continues in the same vein obviously there will be a lot of interest from the big countries and then it will be a decision that the club has to make alongside his representatives. Currently he has been in fantastic form for us, he’s happy, he’s been patient, improving his game all the time and I hope that he goes out and shows all his good attributes against Lazio.
Edouard scored the opening goal in Celtic’s 2-0 win over Cluj to put the hoops on top of Group E, a point clear of Lazio and the Romanian champions.
