Former Celtic striker, Harald Brattbakk, believes that Odsonne Edouard could more than double, Kieran Tierney’s record transfer fee when he eventually leaves the club given his scintillating start to the season.
With Premier League clubs six weeks away from starting their season, he has tipped a bidding war to start if the 22-year old continues in his current vein according to an interview with the Daily Mail (via The Scottish Sun).
So what has Brattbakk said?
When asked to comment on the French youth international’s future at Parkhead, he said:
“He won’t be sold this week. And if he plays well next week and scores a couple of more goals, there will definitely be more interest in him.
“The English league doesn’t start until September 12. If Edouard plays well in the next four or five games and adds to his number of goals, the bids could even rise to £55m or £60m.
“It’s a good situation for Celtic at the moment. If Leicester bid £40m, maybe another club will come in with more. I think it would be really tough to say no to a bid of that amount.
“It’s so much money. Financially, Celtic is still doing well. But any club would appreciate £40m right now. Also, if you sell him for that kind of money, you could buy one or two new players for maybe £10m and you’d still be left with £30m.
“This is always the discussion that you have. The club will always think about ten in a row but also about how best to run it.
“If you ask the supporters, of course, they’d all give Edouard a better contract to stay on.
“But it’s not that easy. The board of directors have to think about both things, which makes it difficult.”
So is Brattbakk correct?
On paper, there is no reason why Edouard wouldn’t command such a figure given the stage of development he is at for a player of his age, but, he plays in the Scottish Premiership and the snobbery towards the game north of the border remains despite the unmitigated success stories of Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Stuart Armstrong and John McGinn to name but a few.
Is Edouard really worth £60m?
Yes
No
However, former Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur full-back, Alan Hutton, has previously talked about Premier League scouts ignoring domestic form in Scotland and analysing potential talents based purely on performances in continental competitions and at international level, again, Edouard would still match the profile for the price tag Brattbakk is talking about.
Celtic are in a good position though with two years left on the player’s contract still to run and will sell only at a price that suits them, Edouard would be a success in the Premier League, there is no doubt about that, and similar to Moussa Dembele, it wouldn’t need a move to another league to justify such a hefty price tag – finding a club willing to pay it is another matter altogether though.