HANDS OFF, ODSONNE

CELTIC are not interested in selling Odsonne Edouard – at ANY price.

The French striker has been caught up in the anticipated swirl of big-money tales and innuendo in this transfer window which will remain open until October 5.

Edouard, who cost the Hoops a record fee of £9million when he joined from Paris Saint-Germain in June 2018, has already been linked with former gaffer Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City, Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Everton in recent weeks.

The champions, though, will insist: You are wasting your time – Edouard is staying at Celtic.

The club’s talisman still has two years to run on his contract and ex-fans’ favourite Kris Commons admitted he would be “astonished” if Scotland’s title kings even thought about allowing him to leave, as CQN reported earlier in the week.

The ‘hands off’ stance from chief executive Peter Lawwell and the Parkhead hierarchy has been circulating in football for months and the penny may finally drop and force envious teams to look elsewhere as they try to strengthen their squad for next month’s kick-off in England.

Neil Lennon is hoping the 22-year-old flamboyant frontman, who netted 28 goals last season before the campaign was interrupted in mid-March by the coronavirus pandemic, will be at the vanguard of the club’s bid for a historic tenth successive championship.

Edouard certainly didn’t disappoint on the opening day of the new term when he rattled in a hat-trick in the 5-1 rout of Hamilton Accies at Parkhead.

And he got his Champions League campaign off to a scoring start with a classy goal in the 6-0 first round qualifying victory over KR Reykjavik.

Lennon brought in Swiss international frontman Albian Ajeti in a £5million deal from West Ham last week and he intends to pair up the talented twosome as the months unfold.

He also has Patryk Klimala pushing for recognition and Leigh Griffiths will also come back on the radar once he overcomes a niggling injury and achieves match fitness.

One player who looks to be heading for the Parkhead exit is midfielder Tom Rogic after an unnamed Qatar club slapped in a £4million offer for the charismatic Australian international, as CQN reported yesterday.

The skilful playmaker has yet to make a first-team appearance this season and has been an unused substitute in two of the team’s three games so far.

Rogic arrived in 2013 and has made close to 200 appearances for the Hoops – scoring the winning goal in the 2-1 Scottish Cup Final victory over Aberdeen which sealed the first of three trebles in Brendan Rodgers’ debut season in 2016/17.

Boss Lennon has still been linked with Motherwell’s David Turnbull after a reported number of recent scouting checks

The Scotland Under-21 midfielder, of course, saw a £3.25million switch to Celtic collapse last summer after he failed a stringent medical test and was forced to undergo surgery. He returned to action in February just before the lockdown.