Reports today that Odsonne Edouard is “considering” staying at Celtic for the next 12 months and leaving on a free are as unlikely as they are stupid.
It would be a ridiculous state of affairs for a player who wanted to go last year to hang around for another campaign, robbing us of a big transfer fee, screwing over his old club into the bargain and earning the enmity of the fans.
I am already sick of watching this lazy sod meander around the pitch; my fury reached its height last season in his dire zero-effort cup performance. Does he really think doing so in front of fans is tenable? This is a player who has no commitment to the club whatsoever at the moment, and every day he stays is another day closer to being out the door.
Think he’d run through walls for the new boss?
With the possibility of injury and no club contract at the end of it?
Celtic cannot allow that. Edouard cannot stay at this club one minute longer than is necessary for us to hand the new manager funds to spend.
The idea of having to watch this guy wander around the pitch for a major Champions League qualifier next month holds absolutely no appeal whatsoever. I would rather we go in there with nobody than play him.
Some of what is getting written today about the “collapse” of the Leicester deal is outright nonsense.
They weren’t the only club interested, but the perception that they were at the front of the queue and had all but secured the deal kept others from taking their interest past the polite question stage.
In the next week you’ll see the interest from elsewhere spark up again, quite possibly from Germany as it is with Kris Ajer.
Whatever transpires here, Edouard cannot stay at Celtic Park.
We’re asking for trouble if we register him for the Champions League and then he plays.
I don’t want to see him pretend to care, pretend to get involved and then get hooked after an hour having contributed nothing at all. I want him moved on, the manager to get the money and a new team built with it.
The one caveat would be this; Edouard stops pouting like a child, signs a new deal with a guaranteed sell-on fee which everyone can accept, and he spend the next 12 months showing clubs why they should be lining up to pay it. Under those circumstance I could just about see some logic in it.
Out of all the possible scenarios, I have to say, I think it is the most unlikely.
Everyone involved here, including the player himself, would benefit from his departure, as early as possible. Which is why I think the story today is simply ridiculous.