Kris Boyd probably doesn’t feel a bigger tit tonight than he usually does, but he ought to. Others in his “new profession” ought to be feeling pretty bloody stupid as well. Those who told us that Celtic were dreaming to think they might get silly money for Dembele.
And those who said that silly money would turn our heads and force the sale.
Tonight West Ham United are the first club to formally lodge a bid for Moussa. And it doesn’t break the Scottish record as much as it smashes it with a sledgehammer. It’s the first. It’s the opener. It’s the start of the auction. It will go higher. Much higher.
The Scottish media and the club across town must be dumbstruck, awed and a little petrified. £20 million is crazy money, and no-one thinks it won’t get crazier. We might make as much from one footballer’s sale as we would for an entire Champions League campaign; that’s terrifying for our rivals.
It’s another indication of how far we are ahead of them.
It also casts a dark light on their own scouting networks, and gives lie to the idea that this stuff is as easy as it looks. We have spent so much money on this that sales like these represent only one side of the equation. Getting here wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t quick.
Isn’t it amazing how many media predictions have gone this way, this season? They said we would be unable to reach the Champions League, that we would not take a point, that Sevco would provide a challenge, that it would take time for us to click.
Moussa was being criticised up until the moment he stepped up to take that crucial spot-kick against Astana. When Leigh Griffiths got injured before the Sevco game at Parkhead they said it was a “game changer” and that it would be costly. It was. But not for Celtic. Then Moussa was a one-hit-wonder until Manchester City were put to the sword. For all that, we were told any transfer fee would be limited by our playing in Scotland.
That one turned out as well as the rest.
We have the hottest property in Europe right now. And we’re going to turn down the first big offer. That will not limit the interest; it will increase it. We’re hanging onto a fantastic player and the better he gets the bigger the offers will be.
Bidding starts at £20 million. Wow.