Ever since his goals against Manchester City, the media has been trying to sell Moussa Dembele and Celtic fans have generally agreed that he will go. This is not the consensus that exists about players who have come through Celtic Park in the past – one day he will outgrow the club – this the idea that we’ll get an offer too good to ignore and the player himself will want to depart for a better place. And sometime soon.
I have an abiding hatred for this idea. Brendan Rodgers does too.
He wants to build a squad. He talks a good game, which is to say that whenever this is brought up he talks about the “moral purpose” behind allowing players who want to better themselves financially to do so … but deep down I suspect he thinks the idea is disloyal and abhorrent.
Dembele has a five-year deal. He’s been here less than two. Is it too much to ask that he gives us this season and next before wanting a move?
It has to be said, there is no indication that the player has been asking for one. Dembele himself has given no such hint. His agent is not in the media causing trouble. Brendan has not stated that the player is unhappy. The club itself is not – as the press has reported, as the media continues to lie – touting him to interested parties.
Moussa Dembele is a formidable footballer. He has been unlucky these last 12 months with injuries which have limited his appearances. Other factors, such as Brendan wanting to rotate the squad with so many games being played, have come into play. The media has played games of divide and rule by promoting Leigh Griffiths at times and Moussa at others … this was always going to happen with them, the moment it became clear what we had on our hands.
I think Dembele is a better all-round player than Leigh Griffiths. This is why I have no real argument with Brendan for preferring him in the team for certain matches. I know this one causes a lot of angst amongst a lot of our supporters, but with respect to them many of them don’t know what they are talking about. Those who describe Dembele as a “dud” or “dire” or in other pejoratives ought to be watching cricket or some other sport.
Others judge this issue on goals alone, which as Brendan has pointed out is not the right way to look at this. If a striker can hold up the ball – as Dembele does so well – he can bring other players into the game. He can create chances and lay on as many goals as he scores. Moussa was exceptional at doing this last year; note the setup for McGregor’s goal at Hampden. It was sublime.
So overall, my preference would be that Moussa stays.
I always think that if teams are willing to pay big money for a player that’s one you’d like to hang onto, and fortunately for the club the wannabe scouts in our support and elsewhere who “don’t get it” aren’t the ones who matter here. People in the game know what Dembele can be and it’s that they’ll pay the big bucks for.
Of course Dembele didn’t have a good game yesterday, but outside of Ajer (who was superb), Brown (who was magnificent) and Gordon (who kept us in the game on two occasion) I would be hard pressed to tell you who did. Kieran tried his heart out, but others were simply posted missing. Sinclair had a good 30 minutes but after that he fell so far out of the game that the decision to take him off was a blessing to him as much as us.
Fans who thought bringing Leigh Griffiths on would change the dynamic of the game were mistaken; he didn’t get any more time on the ball than Dembele had, a problem more to do with the system than it was with the substitution.
The bottom line is that Dembele is no less a player than he was before. Nothing has changed except that he’s lacking match fitness and maybe a little confidence. Brendan’s penchant for squad rotation this season – which I support, wholeheartedly – means that no player has had an extended run in this team. Moussa’s scoring stats are being used by the media to suggest he’s gone badly off the boil; their darling Morelos went ten games without a goal. When Moussa plays ten matches straight without scoring then I’ll perhaps believe it.
The manager needs to sit the guy down and find out what he wants. Moussa’s form has slipped, that is without doubt. He is not playing as he was in the last campaign, but there may be reasons for that above and beyond his happiness at Celtic Park. He looked frustrated yesterday coming off, and clearly disappointed with his performance; the media has spun his slow trudge off the pitch as that of a player saying goodbye.
They are, perhaps, seeing what they want to. But only a sit-down between manager and player will get to the bottom of that, and I have a feeling Moussa will be acutely aware of a couple of things and they will be weighing on his thinking. First, the clubs who are allegedly sniffing around him now are not those who were last season. From the current springboard, he’s not going to get the move to the upper half of the EPL that he is after.
Secondly, I do believe he feels valued and respected at Celtic Park and he knows that all promises aside there is no guarantee that he would have the same stage on which to strut his stuff if he made the big move. A relegation dogfight – with the possible attendant consequences; back to the English Championship – versus playing in Europe, which next season could mean another crack at the Champions League … a better campaign, surrounded by more of Brendan’s own players, and he will, again, have the platform to get the move that would enhance his career.
The transfer window will not be about Moussa Dembele, but just as important as the player we bring in will be those we choose to sell. I would hate to think this guy, who has so much to offer us, will be on that list, but if the reason for his form dip is that this is a player who no longer sees his future, even in the short term, as a Celtic player then let him go, and let him go as quickly as we can bring in a fee.
This isn’t what the January window hinges on, it’s an issue we did not want to have, but it has become an important one just the same. An answer is needed, or this is what the rest of the season will be about. Dembele: will he go, or won’t he, in the summer.
Jesus wept. We can’t do another six months of this.