Odsonne Edouard has addressed what ‘annoyed’ him in the summer transfer window.
Last summer, Brendan Rodgers directly addressed talk of an Edouard return, saying that the striker wasn’t on his radar and the club were focusing on more suitable targets.
Celtic’s striker search ended in disaster, with no direct replacements for Kyogo Furuhashi or Adam Idah.
They certainly could’ve done with bringing in Edouard, who is now top scorer for title-chasing Lens in Ligue 1.
Odsonne Edouard back to his best with Lens
Odsonne Edouard hits back at ‘gamble’ talk after Celtic return links
The Frenchman told Onze Mondial: “When you see people saying or writing, ‘The Odsonne Edouard bet – it’s a gamble’…
“I’d like to bet on someone who’s played in the Champions League, the Europa League, who’s scored goals in the Premier League, and pretty much everywhere he’s played.
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“I’d like to bet on a 27-year-old player who’s scored over 100 career goals. That’s what annoyed me a bit. I’ve been, in a manner of speaking, underestimated.
“I wasn’t playing at all for a while, I wasn’t even making the squads anymore, I was invisible to people. I was training two to three times a day.
“I was waiting for this moment and as soon as I had the opportunity to play again, I had to show everyone that I was here, that I was still capable of scoring goals.
“The key was to get back to peak physical condition quite quickly. I knew that was going to be the biggest challenge.
“In terms of my footballing abilities, I had no doubt. I knew it would work, that I would score goals.”
Lens sit second in Ligue 1, and Edouard has 13 goals in his best goalscoring season since his final with Celtic in 2020-21.
He left Glasgow for Crystal Palace for £15 million in 2021, but scored 21 goals across his three years at Selhurst Park, eventually being displaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
He spent last year on loan at Leicester, but started just one league game. He returned to France for just £3.2 million ahead of this season.
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Odsonne Edouard’s Celtic career
Brought on loan to Glasgow by Rodgers as a teenager in 2017, he grew to become one of the best Celtic strikers of a hugely successful era for the club.
Backup to Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths initially, his iconic winner at Ibrox changed everything. It didn’t just change his Celtic career, it changed away allocations in Glasgow Derbies forever.
He became Celtic’s record signing that summer, and played his best football in the 2019-20 season which was cut short due to Covid. Regardless, he won player of the year that campaign.
Even facing criticism an unsuccessful 2020-21 season behind closed doors, he still finished top scorer in the Scottish Premiership.
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