MOUSSA DEMBELE insists Celtic “gave in” to his £19.7million move to Lyon and he had been “determined” to join the French club.
On the eve of the first Glasgow derby of the season, the 22-year-old stroppy striker had some interesting things to say at the press conference to announce his signing for his new club.
A grinning Dembele said: “I was determined to come to Lyon.
“Those in charge gave in. It was hard. I gave everything and, in the end, it paid off.
“It was a certainty that I wanted to come to OL.
“I have played with a lot of Lyonnais players. They all told me to come. I’m a scorer, it’s my first quality.
“Celtic needed a replacement to finalise.”
Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers, who bought the Frenchman from Fulham in the summer of 2016, had claimed in a statement the transfer was “to serve the best interests” of “the culture and environment” at Celtic.
On Thursday, Dembele tweeted: “A man, without his word, is nothing. A real man keeps his word” and “A lie has many variations, the truth has none”.
To which the Parkhead boss replied he would be “disappointed” if the remarks were aimed at him.
The following day Dembele spent 15 minutes on the training ground at Lennoxtown before being removed by Rodgers.
Leigh Griffiths, who scored his 100th goal for the club in Thursday’s 3-0 victory over FK Suduva, will almost certainly lead the attack against Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox outfit in the east end of Glasgow tomorrow.
Odsonne Edouard, who missed the Europa League play-off triumph, could start on the subs’ bench.
