It comes as no surprise really. The minute Edouard picks up his form and starts to find the back of the net, pundits are queuing up to tell us he’s working his ticket out of the club. He’s only playing now because the summer transfer window is a matter of months away. Forgetting the fact that Edouard is class act and this is what he does.
Edouard has 15 goals in 21 appearances this season for Celtic. For a striker that has had every accusation levied at him from being disinterested or having his head turned, that is a remarkable statistic and not one he is a stranger to. Last season the big Frenchman had 28 goals in 47 appearances and the season before was 22 goals in 52 appearances.
Over the last three seasons, Celtic average 2.27 points per game that Edouard plays. When Edouard plays, Celtic win. There is no great conspiracy to Eddie’s sudden surge in form, this is just what he does. And lets not deny it, if his goal scoring exploits continue then of course he will get his move. Not because he all of a sudden realised he wants out, but because he’s EARNED it.
But as the famous saying goes, “Don’t let facts get in the way of a good story”. But that’s exactly what the pundits on BBC Sportsound did today. Chick Young and (surprisingly) Pat Bonner seem to suggest that the only reason Edouard’s form has picked up is because he is working his ticket out of Celtic Park.
Young remarked on Eddie’s form, although with a hint of subtlety, “His vision his ability on the ball and right to the end that is what rate to get back and just see the game for Celtic was in great hold up play, and he’s back to being the player that we all knew he was and is. Sometimes you think his appetite for the game is gone.
“Not today. That was a guy who for whatever reason he’s come into Celtic the needs of a big move whatever it is that’s the player that Celtic need to play for them, and indeed to seek out a big, a big fee for the time when it does leave”
And his co pundit, ad former Celtic legend, Pat Bonner added more directly, “You can see now that he’s back to form but he’s also thinking, the summers coming up and if I’m going to get the move that I want and I’ve got to start putting goals in the back of the net and an overall play also has got to show people what I can do. But he’s back on form”
“The two goals he scored was was was magnificent I’ve got to say. The first one, cross from Christie and then the movement and the ability to finish at the the near post.
“But the second goal was the one where you had real inventiveness among the players leading up to it and then the touch from Odsonne Edouard with his back to goal, and then just the composure not to swipe at it just the composure to take his time, and then just play it into the back of the net with a bit of pace”
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