Former Celtic hero John Hartson wants Odsonne Edouard to start justifying his £9million price tag.
Celtic’s number one Frenchman was the star-signing of the summer. He shot himself to Parkhead glory during his loan spell from PSG last season. Three big goals against Rangers was ultimately enough to seal him his permanent move to the club.
Celtic, however, had to shell out a hefty fee for the youngster.
Since then, it’s been an indifferent time for Edouard at Celtic. He started the campaign on fire, rattling home four goals in his first five appearances. Since then, however, Celtic’s record signing has scored just two goals in his last 10 outings. Those came in the Hoops’ last two fixtures against Red Bull Salzburg and St Johnstone.
Injury had set the Frenchman back several weeks, and Edouard deserves to be cut some slack because of it.
Hartson spoke in his Evening Times column, however, and feels that there’s more to give from the former PSG kid.
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“I keep hearing that Odsonne Edouard is a work in progress but I also think we need to see a little bit more from him too. I have no doubt that he has the raw talent to go and be a top player and at 20, he is still learning the ropes.
“But he has had a relatively quiet start to the season. There will be more to come from him and it is difficult when you are playing with a pretty big price tag around your neck but I’d like to see Edouard in and about it a bit more over these next few months.”
Has to be improvement
Edouard will come good at Celtic, and every Hoops fan probably agrees with that. Yet, there’s also no denying that what Hartson says here is true – Celtic need to start getting more for their buck.
There is still the big question mark about whether Edouard was truly worth £9m. The big forward has yet to really wow since the summer, and he now finds himself in an intriguing battle with Leigh Griffiths.
Griffiths’ goals are hard to ignore for Brendan Rodgers. But it’s Edouard who’s now the man in-form once more with two goals in his last two matches. If he is now going to get a run of games from now on, he has to start showing a bit more than he has done.
It’s important to remember, however, that Celtic didn’t just pay £9m for the player he is now. That money was also spent on the potential talent that Edouard could one day become. If he develops how many at Celtic Park think he will, then the Hoops will be in for a fortune.
In the meantime, however, Edouard has so start proving why his value is so high in the coming weeks.