CELTIC will miss out on a cash bonanza when former striker Moussa Dembele leaves Lyon in the summer.
The Hoops sold the powerhouse frontman to the French top-flight outfit for £19.8million in August 2018.
The Parkhead club inserted a sell-on clause – believed to be in the region of 10 to 15 per cent – for a cut of the transfer profit if Dembele left the Ligue 1 side.
At one stage, the 26-year-old forward’s value was soaring towards a whopping £50million, but the player Brendan Rodgers landed for the Parkhead club in the summer of 2016 on a cut-price cross-border development fee of £500,000 from Fulham is now about to quit Lyon – for NOTHING.
HAPPY DAZE – THEN AND NOW…Moussa Dembele celebrates his hat-trick in the 5-1 derby day demolition at Parkhead in September 2016 and (below) he signals a goal for Lyon.
Dembele had a loan spell at Atletico Madrid in 2021, but the Spanish giants did not take up the purchase option with the attacker failing to spark in Spain.
Barcelona, too, were mentioned a couple of seasons ago with Dembele tipped for the very top.
Manchester United and Chelsea and this season’s strugglers Everton and Southampton have been also been linked over the recent years.
There is bound to be a scramble for Dembele when he walks away for free from Laurent Blanc’s side in June, according to a Sky Sports report.
It’s the SECOND time the Hoops will have missed out on a cash windfall for the fans’ former favourite who hit the headlines with a stunning hat-trick in the 5-1 derby landslide against the Ibrox opposition in the east end of Glasgow in September 2016.
THE EYES HAVE IT…Moussa Dembele keeps his gaze firmly fixed on the ball as he jousts for a cross with Ross McCrorie in Celtic’s 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win in April 2018.
Dembele was lined up for £50million switch to Spurs, then managed by Jose Mourinho, but the French club rejected an official approach from the English outfit, as CQN reported in October 2020.
The plan was for the London club to take the hitman on an initial season-long loan with an option to buy, but the French side knocked back that suggestion and the proposed move collapsed.
Dembele had become one of the most wanted strikers in Europe at that stage after scoring an impressive 44 goals in 95 appearances at Lyon following his arrival from the Hoops.
Now he will be up for grabs for free in the summer with the Hoops missing out on a welcome cash injection to top up Ange Postecoglou transfer fund as he prepares for an assault on the Champions League as well as the domestic front.
