Chris Sutton has admitted that he was concerned that Celtic would sell star striker Odsonne Edouard when the Hoops lost to Ferencvaros in the Champions League qualifiers, the Daily Record Celtic podcast reports.
Neil Lennon’s side lost 2-1 back in August to the Hungarian champions, meaning that the Hoops missed out on the group stage of the lucrative competition for the third season in a row.
Sutton has disclosed that the feared that the Frenchman – who missed the defeat due to injury – would leave Celtic in the wake of the loss.
“Will Celtic have to sell”
“When you think, Celtic got knocked out the Champions League by Ferencvaros, and when that happened alarm bells are ringing. ‘Will Celtic have to sell one of the big guns?’ ‘Will Celtic have to sell an Odsonne Edouard?’ “Selling Odsonne Edouard would’ve killed Celtic” Sutton said, whilst appearing on the Daily Record Celtic podcast (06/10/20, 02:08).
As we all know now, no major players departed Celtic in the wake of the recent transfer window. The Hoops managed to keep hold of all their key players, at least until the next window opens.
However, it is easy to see why Sutton was concerned. There is no doubt that Edouard will be desperate to play in the Champions League.
He will have been disappointed that the Hoops missed out on the tournament once more. However, Celtic managed to persuade the player to stay to lead the campaign to win 10 in a row.
Hoops deserve plenty of credit for keeping squad together
Neil Lennon and his Celtic staff deserve plenty of credit for managing to make that happen.
It might be a bit of a surprise to some that Edouard is still at Celtic after the Ferencvaros defeat. However, even though it is a significant financial blow to the Hoops not to reach the group stages of the Champions League, Celtic obviously don’t need to sell a player to make up for the lost revenue.
It looks like Celtic have learned their lessons after the departures of Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney in the last few years.
In other news, some Celtic fans loved the club’s response to a Charlie Nicholas comment.
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