Kris Boyd has no basis for Odsonne Edouard “swagger” remark

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Many Celtic fans won’t be too surprised to hear that Kris Boyd has made another strange comment about an important Hoops first-team player.

Odsonne Edouard was the recipient of the former Kilmarnock and Rangers striker’s remark on Monday as he spoke live on Sky Sports News. And while the retired frontman has said worse in the past, and will no doubt do so in the future, many Celtic fans may still have been scratching their heads as he claimed Edouard doesn’t quite have the swagger of compatriot Moussa Dembele.

“He is a talented footballer, he’s got the lot,” Boyd said, to be fair to him.

“The only wee thing I would say is maybe different is Moussa Dembele had the swagger, he knew he was going on to the football pitch to score goals.

“I can see small signs with Edouard that this is now happening. He’s going into games knowing he’s going to score, that’s one thing Dembele had.”

The stats prove Boyd is talking nonsense about Edouard

While Boyd did undoubtedly praise Edouard for improving, it does seem a little peculiar that he’d choose to talk about his lack of a swagger. Any Celtic supporters who have seen the prolific frontman in action over the past year will have seen his swagger.

For all of Dembele’s brilliance in a Celtic shirt, he did register just nine league goals in his second season after scoring 17 in his first. Edouard ended up with 15 in the league last year in his first season as a permanent signing, while he’s already got 13 this campaign.

And it’s not as if the former PSG man doesn’t perform in Europe either. Much like Dembele, Edouard saves some of his best displays for the Champions League and the Europa League. His performances were a big part in us making the last 32 of the latter in the first half of the season. He didn’t seem to lack much swagger then.

Both Edouard and Dembele have netted 51 goals for Celtic at the time of writing. Dembele did it in 69 starts while Edouard has taken 12 more. But the current Hoops star has outshone his compatriot for his national team’s under-21 side – scoring seven goals in four competitive matches to Dembele’s seven in 13.

The crux of the matter is that the pair are very evenly matched during their time at the club. And Edouard doesn’t lack any of the “swagger” that Dembele enjoyed. Once again, Boyd is talking nonsense on that one.