ODSONNE EDOUARD was praised by Neil Lennon after his 37th-minute introduction for Albian Ajeti during the 3-0 victory over Hibs at Parkhead yesterday.
The French striker started on the bench after an uninspired display in the 1-0 Europa League qualifying win over FC Riga in Latvia last week where he was hooked before the end to make way for last-gasp matchwinner Mohamed Elyounoussi.
However, Edouard didn’t have long to wait before making an appearance against the Easter Road men when £5million Swiss hitman Ajeti pulled a muscle as he pounced to fire in the second goal after keeper Ofir Marciano had pushed away an effort from Thursday’s Euro hero.
The 22-year-old frontman, last season’s top scorer with 28 goals, has seen his form dip alarmingly while he has been at the centre of some intense transfer speculation during the summer.
But Lennon insists he “does NOT want to sell anybody” before the transfer deadline a week today.
And, looking at Edouard’s performance against Jack Ross’ outfit, the Hoops boss, speaking to the Daily Record, said: “He has not been himself and he knows that.
“But for the length of time he was on he was great. We like to have depth and I don’t see it as competition.
“If someone is struggling a little bit for form or fitness, then we have good players to come in and play and make us as good as we were.”
On the transfer front, Lennon added: “I speak to Nick Hammond every day. We are spinning a few plates on a couple of players.
“We want to add maybe just one to the squad and keep everybody else. It’s going to be fraught because it’s the last week of the window.
“There could be a lot of people scrambling for players and we are not immune to that, but we don’t want to sell anybody and I think we are quite strong on that at the minute.”
DUTCH TREAT AS FRIMPONG LEADS THE HOOPS TO VICTORY
