CELTIC can write off any hope of a multi-million pound cash windfall from the sell-on clause in Moussa Dembele’s contract – as CQN forecast FIVE months ago.
The former fans’ favourite, one of Brendan Rodgers’ first signings for the club in the summer of 2016, is out of contract in June next year and is poised to quit Lyon for nothing.
The Ligue 1 outfit paid £19.8million to lure the powerhouse French frontman from Parkhead on deadline day in August 2018.
GLASGOW BELONGS TO ME…Moussa Dembele celebrates after scoring the League Cup semi-final winner over the Ibrox outfit in his first season at Celtic.
Now they are prepared to allow him to leave in the January transfer window for as little as a paltry £4.5million which will negate any money the Hoops may have expected on a percentage of the profit on the next fee for the 26-year-old former Under-21 international.
Dembele netted 22 goals for his team last season, but they finished in a disappointing eighth place in the top flight. There was the usual speculation concerning his future in the summer, especially when Lyon brought in Alexandre Lacazette from Arsenal.
The hitman has struggled for goals this term – claiming only two – and is also under pressure for game time since the arrival of the French international on a lucrative three-year contract. The ex-Celt has started only six games with another six appearances from the bench.
FOR MY NEXT TRICK…Moussa Dembele bamboozles opponent Ross McCrorie.
Turkish giants Galatasaray are monitoring the player’s situation and have already made a cut-price offer, according to a report in media outlet En Son Haber.
Dembele was valued at £10million in the summer with Southampton showing interest in the attacker who cost a mere £500,000 when Rodgers signed him in a cross-border deal when he was about to come out of contract at Fulham.
The all-action man, of course, became an immediate hit with the Hoops support when he fired in a hat-trick in the team’s landlside 5-1 triumph over the Ibrox club in September 2016 and played a pivotal role in two back-to-back trebles while claiming 51 goals in 94 appearances.
PARADISE…Moussa Dembele celebrates one of his 51 goals for Celtic.
Early in his career in Ligue 1, the raider’s value soared to around the £50million mark and Italian giants Juventus were said to be interested in the attacker who has claimed 69 goals in his 155 appearances for Lyon.
He was loaned to Atletico Madrid in January last year with an option to buy at £28.5million, but he failed to score a solitary goal in only six appearances and was returned to the French outfit without any business being concluded.
Now we await the next instalment in Dembele’s soccer journey with the only certainty Celtic will not receive a penny on any future move.