Celtic have made a habit of bringing back previous figures in recent years.
Kieran Tierney is the most recent example, whilst Jota and Brendan Rodgers have also returned for another crack at it in the last few seasons.
Odsonne Edouard was linked with a return in the summer too, having spent four years at Crystal Palace after leaving Glasgow for £15 million.
Instead, he eventually joined Lens, returning to France after seven years – and so far, it’s going pretty well.
After a few years in the Premier League wilderness, Edouard is back being spoken about – and a clip posted by the league will remind Hoops fans of ‘French Eddy’ at his best.
Clip of Celtic hero Odsonne Edouard goes viral with his side top of Ligue 1
Lens are the unlikely leaders of Ligue 1, having won seven of their last eight games.
They sit a point above European champions PSG, and two points ahead of Matt O’Riley’s Marseille.
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They paid just over £3 million for the Hoops hero, and this is beginning to look like a bargain.
He has seven goal involvements in his last eight games, forming a formidable attacking partnership with Florian Thauvin, who earned a call-up to the French national side.
Despite standing at 6 foot 2, Edouard is gifted with sublime footwork – a clip shared by Ligue 1 will remind Hoops fans of this.
Odsonne Edouard back to his best with Lens
Lens are a real success story. Playing in the second tier as recently as 2020, unknown manager Franck Haise guided them to a second-placed finish in 2023.
Haise moved on to OGC Nice and was replaced by Englishman Will Still. But after just one year, he was replaced by Pierre Sage, who seems to have them back at their best.
Lens have an extremely effective player trading model, which has seen them sell players for big fees to Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan and RB Leipzig in the last two years.
Odsonne Edouard’s Celtic career
This won’t be a surprise to Celtic fans, given the outstanding ability that Edouard demonstrated in his four years in Glasgow.
A goal at Ibrox which led to Celtic’s away allocation being cut, followed by a derby double in the absence of Moussa Dembele the next month, led to Celtic making Edouard their record transfer in 2018.
Over the next few years, he repaid that fee with goals in cup finals, Glasgow derbies and European competition. In Celtic’s title-winning 2019-20 season, he was named the club’s player of the year.
It’s great to see him back to his best.
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