Celtic 2017 signing can make difference v Rangers, but he should still exit in summer

Sun 22 April 2018 19:33, UK

COMMENT

There is good chance that Odsonne Edouard can once again have a big impact for Celtic against Rangers next Sunday, five weeks after scoring the winning goal at Ibrox.

With Moussa Dembele injured and Leigh Griffiths struggling with form, Edouard stated his case to start against the Gers with the Bhoys’ consolation goal in the 2-1 loss to Hibernian.

The goal was his ninth of the season, and he has made a good impact in his loan deal from PSG after he signed in the summer of 2017, but he hasn’t done enough to earn a permanent deal at the end of the season.

In a way all of the Hoops’ strikers have been a disappointment this season, as the club have scored less goals than Rangers in the league and the top scorer is Scott Sinclair with 18 goals, and he has been out of form for months.

With Griffiths and Dembele in poor form at times, you would have expected that Edouard would have cemented a place in the first-team, but that hasn’t happened.

He has only started 11 matches for the Hoops in a total of 27 overall, scoring nine goals in the process, which is a good record for a 20-year-old but not really enough for the sort of money that the Hoops would need to pay the French champions for him.

At the end of the season, when hopefully he is part of the squad which wins the treble, Edouard will be regarded fondly for his winning goal at Ibrox, but then it should be time for the club to move on to new striking targets.