Moussa Dembele is well on his way to hero status with Celtic fans.
The 20-year-old striker, who arrived from Fulham last summer, has been very, very impressive for Brendan Rodgers’ side.
Dembele scored a hat-trick against Rangers, got two against Manchester City at Celtic Park and netted in the Scottish League Cup final against Aberdeen.
Signed for just £500,000 – a compensation fee to Fulham – Dembele could reportedly fetch a fee of up to £20m, with his 17 goals in 29 games catching the eye of suitors down south.
Unfortunately for Celtic, given the financial climate in Scottish football, Dembele is unlikely to be at the club for long if he continues his stellar form.
(Picture: Getty Images)
The days when Celtic could hold onto potentially great, or even very good players are long gone.
Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk all joined Celtic for modest fees, impressed in Scotland and moved south, to Southampton, for big-money fees.
Rodgers, when asked about the transfer rumours linking Dembele with a move to Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur, gave a very pragmatic response.
The Celtic manager knows the score, but dismissed suggestions his star striker will leave before the end of the season.
“No, I don’t think it will be January,” Rodgers told talkSPORT.
“At Celtic, you know how it is. We know how it is. If we get a really talented player there’s probably a cycle of a couple of years with them.
“You look at [Victor] Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk, Ki [Sung-yueng]. They come up here and it’s a great platform for them to demonstrate their qualities but then the likelihood is they get a better offer, financially, and they move down south.
“With Moussa, I think that was always going to be the case.”
Dembele almost joined Spurs last January, but the move collapsed because Fulham wanted him to be loaned back to them for the remainder of the season, while Spurs wanted him to join them immediately.
The 20-year-old remained with the London club, scoring 15 goals as they secured their status in the Championship and had several offers in the summer, eventually chosing Celtic.
Hoops fans will be hoping he sticks around for another couple of seasons at least.
