The biggest boost we could have gotten, going into the cup final, was the news that Tom Rogic has signed a new contract with the club.
It is a development that, frankly, none of us could have seen coming. The player is at the peak of his powers right now, and he had a year left on his deal. We would have been forced to sell him in the summer had he not committed his future to us and we would have got a good fee but lost a Hell of a player.
The question naturally arises as to who we should give a new contract to next. Griffiths wants one and will undoubtedly get it. The manager rates Boyata enough that his recent plea to be given one will not go unheeded. Armstrong may or may not sign an extension; he is probably the player the fans think we could do without at this time, and with all respect to him I agree. With Rogic staying and McGregor scoring goals, it’s not obvious that he’ll play often.
Celtic is in good shape. We look highly likely to maintain our strength in the key areas of our squad and the news that we’re going to make a formal offer to PSG for Odsonne Edouard is great news, because he has all the quality in the world.
I expect him to be at Celtic Park for the next campaign, and along with Ntcham to form a core part of the team.
But it’s our third Frenchman, the one who arrived first, who continues to intrigue me the most and who I hold out the greatest hopes for. Moussa Dembele is well on the way to being the complete striker and his performances in the latter part of this campaign have shown us, again, and reminded us, as if we needed it, what we’ll be missing if he goes.
The club will struggle to find a better all-round player without having to pay many, many millions for him.
We could, of course, make the Scottish football killing to end them all if we agreed to sell him but that would ridiculous if he didn’t want to leave. Like Kieran, he’s a player capable of going all the way and playing for any club … if he wants that club to be Celtic then it’s an obvious step to move heaven and earth to keep him here.
If rumours about Hernandez are true (I wrote about that earlier in the week) then the manager is clearly preparing for the departure of at least one striker. As Leigh will get his new deal and Edouard is one we want to hang onto, the natural assumption is that Dembele is the one we think is most likely to depart. But if Hernandez isn’t coming, or if the bid is just speculation (I hear it’s not, my source on that is pretty good) losing Moussa would be a blow.
The kid is only 20. People forget that when they talk about him. Even if he were to sign a five year deal with us and commit to spending three years of it here, he would still have a decade at the top of the game in front of him and his value would be enormous. It would be a no-lose deal for everyone involved, and it would stun our media and send a clear-cut message to the mob across town that we are deadly serious about the march to ten in a row and that we won’t be derailed no matter what they do. The intent would be obvious. The message would not be misunderstood. I think they would be scared to death by it.
Tantalising possibilities present themselves if we can keep him, and foremost amongst them is the idea of playing Dembele and Edouard together in the team. The number of draws this season suggests that teams will double down on the tactic of putting everyone behind the ball for the next campaign, and so we need a rethink of our playing style and system and I can’t think of a better foundation for it than having the French duo together in the team.
I suspect, too, that Brendan has experimented with playing Odsonne out wide … and that suggests that he has been thinking along those lines.
Where this idea seems to be faltering is that nowhere, at any time, has anyone at Celtic Park suggested that Moussa will be offered a new contract. It’s almost as if there’s an implicit understanding that he’ll go … and I think that’s just ridiculous. If the opportunity to keep him for another two or three years exists we can’t possibly ignore it.
So come on Celtic. The fans are rocking over Rogic. Going into the cup final, we could not possibly have gotten a bigger lift.
Or so it seems.
But deal in Dembele and that would be a sign that all at Celtic Park are working towards the goals with laser beam focus … and those goals don’t stop at the Magic Ten of course.
We’ve always thought bigger than that.
