The Return Of Dembele: Is It Feasible And Should Celtic Make Their Move For Him?

One of the best internet suggestions of recent days is that Celtic should make their move to re-sign Moussa Dembele, essentially bringing back to Parkhead the same way we got him in the first place, on freedom of contract. I do like the idea.

Earlier on, I wrote about the debate over whether or not we should move for a striker in January. It won’t be Dembele, not unless we’re willing to pay a big fee. But we could move for him on a pre-contract and tie him up for the summer.

Think of the excitement that would generate, right?

The question is, would the move even be feasible? I have to say probably not, because he’ll want big money and he’ll have clubs willing to give it to him. I think he’s easily good enough to play in one of the Big Five leagues, and I suspect there will be a queue of clubs around the block for the player.

There is one advantage we would have if we decided to go for it. We’re Celtic, and he has a wonderful relationship with the fans. Does Moussa think he has unfinished business here? Maybe he does, and that could very well swing it for us.

And that’s really what it would come down to, that and Celtic being willing to play the card. That’s where I think the idea falls short.

I think we’ve probably got our plans already in place and as amazing at it would be – a box office signing for sure – I wonder if it wouldn’t be anything more than a vanity exercise, for all his talent, for all his skill, and for what he did for us in the past.

We’ve moved on. We’re a different club now.

As I said with the McLean piece, we have more imagination than that.