Moussa Dembele, Celtic

Bwuk said:
I wouldn't mind us having a look at him when Zlatan goes.
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That's the thing, the chances are he will leave Celtic this summer and if Zlatan signs a new deal, then I seriously doubt we will spend £20m - £30m on a player that will basically be a sub. I would love us to sign him and even let him stay on loan at Celtic for another season to develop further.

I can't really see what top club he would be a starter for, to be honest; maybe Arsenal? I think he would be best staying put at Celtic for another season for developmental reasons but given the hype around him, it's hard to see that happening.
 
Robbie Boy said:
That's the thing, the chances are he will leave Celtic this summer and if Zlatan signs a new deal, then I seriously doubt we will spend £20m - £30m on a player that will basically be a sub. I would love us to sign him and even let him stay on loan at Celtic for another season to develop further.

I can't really see what top club he would be a starter for, to be honest; maybe Arsenal? I think he would be best staying put at Celtic for another season for developmental reasons but given the hype around him, it's hard to see that happening.
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If Falcao leaves Monaco could be an option, Marseille are willing to spend big on a striker, Milan and Lyon will have money to burn too.
 
JPRouve said:
If Falcao leaves Monaco could be an option, Marseille are willing to spend big on a striker, Milan and Lyon will have money to burn too.
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Possibly Monaco, alright. Given the teams he's been linked to; Arsenal, PSG, United, Real, Bayern, Chelsea etc, I would be unsure if he would move to any of the others that you mentioned.

Lyon have Lacazette; is he definitely going to move this summer? I suppose Milan could maybe be an option due to their new ownership and the fact that they will be looking to build a new team to challenge again.
 
JPRouve said:
I completely missed that extension, Bayern isn't a good fit then.
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Extended till 2021.

Robbie Boy said:
That's the thing, the chances are he will leave Celtic this summer and if Zlatan signs a new deal, then I seriously doubt we will spend £20m - £30m on a player that will basically be a sub. I would love us to sign him and even let him stay on loan at Celtic for another season to develop further.

I can't really see what top club he would be a starter for, to be honest; maybe Arsenal? I think he would be best staying put at Celtic for another season for developmental reasons but given the hype around him, it's hard to see that happening.
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You are probably right that no top club can offer him a starting place right now, but he shouldn't stay at Celtic either. The league is weak and while the potential is there, a lot of dutch players are prime example for potential not being everything and how staying in a weak league can hurt your development. A lot of those guys have failed when they left at 22 because they just couldn't cope with the insane increase of demands. He needs to go to one of the big 5 leagues in the summer, but to a mid table side probably.
Schalke needs a striker and the team has loads of potential.
Sevilla could do with a new striker.
Everton, should Lukaku finally leave, could also be a good destination.
 
Robbie Boy said:
Yeah, even at the time - considering how highly coveted he was - I was kind of surprised that you's would let the deal collapse on the basis of that one factor. It's hardly like he would have seen all that much playing time between Feb - May anyway, and surely for his development, loaning him back to Fulham would have been the best option for both parties.
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Yep and we don't usually let deals like that slip for youngsters. Like I said, who knows. Very strange, especially as you say, the loan back would have been the best deal for everyone involved.
 
JPRouve said:
If Falcao leaves Monaco could be an option, Marseille are willing to spend big on a striker, Milan and Lyon will have money to burn too.
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Do you think he would want to go back to France? Or come back to England/ go to Germany?
 
Robbie Boy said:
Possibly Monaco, alright. Given the teams he's been linked to; Arsenal, PSG, United, Real, Bayern, Chelsea etc, I would be unsure if he would move to any of the others that you mentioned.

Lyon have Lacazette; is he definitely going to move this summer? I suppose Milan could maybe be an option due to their new ownership and the fact that they will be looking to build a new team to challenge again.
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If Monaco are an option then surely Marseille are too because the latter are a far bigger club with a far bigger pull. The problem with Marseille is that they got rid of all their players in 2015 but that's over, they are probably going to overshadow everyone except PSG. Concerning Lacazette Lyon are willing to sell him and he publicly said that he wanted to leave.
 
fcbforever said:
You are probably right that no top club can offer him a starting place right now, but he shouldn't stay at Celtic either. The league is weak and while the potential is there, a lot of dutch players are prime example for potential not being everything and how staying in a weak league can hurt your development. A lot of those guys have failed when they left at 22 because they just couldn't cope with the insane increase of demands. He needs to go to one of the big 5 leagues in the summer, but to a mid table side probably.
Schalke needs a striker and the team has loads of potential.
Sevilla could do with a new striker.
Everton, should Lukaku finally leave, could also be a good destination.
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There's definitely substance in what you're saying alright, but he will only be 22 by the end of next season and I really can't see it hurting his development in any way, playing 40/50 games for Celtic again next season while picking up CL experience.

If he doesn't get a move to a top club this summer then I honestly think he should stay at Celtic next season as there's no way that he would stay beyond that, anyway. It certainly didn't hurt Van Dijk staying on for more playing time and European experience. He would have left after his first season but chose to stay on and is now one of the most sought after CB's in the PL.
 
JPRouve said:
If Monaco are an option then surely Marseille are too because the latter are a far bigger club with a far bigger pull. The problem with Marseille is that they got rid of all their players in 2015 but that's over, they are probably going to overshadow everyone except PSG. Concerning Lacazette Lyon are willing to sell him and he publicly said that he wanted to leave.
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I wouldn't be that well informed on French football but yeah, that all sounds fair enough.

Off topic, where do you see Lacazette ending up? Is he good enough for the absolute top teams?
 
africanspur said:
Do you think he would want to go back to France? Or come back to England/ go to Germany?
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I don't know him, so I'm just guessing but, and I'm not saying that because I'm french, if I was a french player I would definitely comeback to France if Monaco, Marseille, PSG or Lyon were after me. Joining PSG means that you join one of the best team in Europe while joining the other three means that you are going to compete against one of the best team in Europe and they all have enough money to compete at a good level. And that's without even taking into account the potentiality of Bielsa at Lille.

Now, I don't know what french players have in mind, if they are after wages the PL will be a better place for them.
 
JPRouve said:
I don't know him, so I'm just guessing but, and I'm not saying that because I'm french, if I was a french player I would definitely comeback to France if Monaco, Marseille, PSG or Lyon were after me. Joining PSG means that you join one of the best team in Europe while joining the other three means that you are going to compete against one of the best team in Europe and they all have enough money to compete at a good level. And that's without even taking into account the potentiality of Bielsa at Lille.

Now, I don't know what french players have in mind, if they are after wages the PL will be a better place for them.
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Interesting, thanks.

Yeah, if I was French, PSG would surely give me everything I wanted. One of the best teams in Europe, money, living in Paris (and in my home country), great players and CL. Sounds pretty perfect to me.
 
Robbie Boy said:
There's definitely substance in what you're saying alright, but he will only be 22 by the end of next season and I really can't see it hurting his development in any way, playing 40/50 games for Celtic again next season while picking up CL experience.

If he doesn't get a move to a top club this summer then I honestly think he should stay at Celtic next season as there's no way that he would stay beyond that, anyway. It certainly didn't hurt Van Dijk staying on for more playing time and European experience. He would have left after his first season but chose to stay on and is now one of the most sought after CB's in the PL.
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Van Dijk took a sidestep as well.
What I'm arguing is, if he wanst to join one of top dogs, he can't go there directly from Celtic as he would likely fail.
 
fcbforever said:
Van Dijk took a sidestep as well.
What I'm arguing is, if he wanst to join one of top dogs, he can't go there directly from Celtic as he would likely fail.
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I don't think he would fail, to be honest. The problem is that the top teams all have a good striker in place and he would likely be a sub and have to bide his time.

Van Dijk made a brilliant choice moving to Southampton; he has now proven himself in the PL and will most likely get his big move this summer. Doing the exact same thing paid off for Wanyama too.
 
Celtic are going to want big money for him. I would be pretty weary of buying him off the back of a good season in the SPL, that's surely an even worse guage than Holland.

Think it would be better for him to take another stepping stone before joining us.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Celtic are going to want big money for him. I would be pretty weary of buying him off the back of a good season in the SPL, that's surely an even worse guage than Holland.

Think it would be better for him to take another stepping stone before joining us.
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He wouldn't be bought because of his goal scoring in the SPL. If that was the case, a lot of absolute dross would have made big moves over the years.
 
JPRouve said:
I don't know him, so I'm just guessing but, and I'm not saying that because I'm french, if I was a french player I would definitely comeback to France if Monaco, Marseille, PSG or Lyon were after me. Joining PSG means that you join one of the best team in Europe while joining the other three means that you are going to compete against one of the best team in Europe and they all have enough money to compete at a good level. And that's without even taking into account the potentiality of Bielsa at Lille.

Now, I don't know what french players have in mind, if they are after wages the PL will be a better place for them.
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He is a PSG academy product and although he said he would have stayed in Paris if he knew youth would be given a chance in the new project like we've seen with Augustin, Rabiot, Kimpembe or Nkunku, he didn't look like a comeback to PSG was a priority.

I don't think the other French clubs can compete financially but Dembélé seems to prioritize his career over short term gain soo who knows.
 
Robbie Boy said:
He wouldn't be bought because of his goal scoring in the SPL. If that was the case, a lot of absolute dross would have made big moves over the years.
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Why are people taking notice of him then? If he was so good why didn't people buy him at Fulham.

I don't watch Scottish football match but his goal record is the main reason people are discussing the idea.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Why are people taking notice of him then? If he was so good why didn't people buy him at Fulham.

I don't watch Scottish football match but his goal record is the main reason people are discussing the idea.
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Not really. People on here had been talking about him since his Fulham days. He apparently rejected Arsenal to move to Celtic for first team football; and has already been mentioned, a move to Spurs collapsed last January for reasons yet to be established.

Big clubs have been courting him for a long time and at 18/19 last season, he was a first teamer for Fulham and scored a fair few goals. Zidane has taken time out to personally praise him and apparently all the top clubs are monitoring him. He's also stood out in the CL this season and caused City all sorts of problems.

Obviously his form for Celtic has been great but absolutely no one is taking notice based on his SPL form. That would be madness.

Edit: I suppose he has gained more exposure to a wider audience since joining Celtic. This would be due to scoring against City in the CL and his goal scoring record against Rangers.
 
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BlueCelery said:
How is his technique, hold up play, link up play, dribbling, pace, intelligence, vision, work rate etc?

Everyone knew Suarez would be top class despite playing in a wank league because his all round game was even more impressive than his scoring record.

Strikers with a great skillset usually almost always translate to tougher Leagues.
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Aye. This is why the "but Kezman/Alves/Boyd/whoever scored loads in Holland/Scotland/etc" line of reasoning is lazy. It's not difficult to assess a player properly based on what your eyes see and then qualify that with how that player gets on in the more challenging situations (be it Europe or big domestic games).
 
He's the real deal.

I don't care how bad the SPL may be. You can see this lad has real quality. Best player since Larsson and, I hate to say it, has the potential to go on and be even better than Henrik.
 
Pink Moon said:
He's the real deal.

I don't care how bad the SPL may be. You can see this lad has real quality.
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Aye, fully agree here. I guess some are just going to keep repeating the same cliched line about the SPL being shit as opposed to watching the lad and seeing his obvious quality.
 
Honestly, that video really didn't impress, just showed me how Celtic have gone unbeaten in the league so far! Terrible defending, terrible goalkeeping, he might have talent, but he's gone from a Championship where there are multiple contenders, to a championship (SPL) where 1 team dominates.

I wouldn't put him above a Iheanacho or a Rashford yet, let alone drop 50m on the guy.
Didn't Griffith's show the same kind of form for Celtic under a worse manager (granted Griffith is a tool to boot).
 
Devil may care said:
How would you rate him next to the other young French forwards mate?
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I can't answer that question, since I don't watch Scottish football to be honest. I think the only thing I've seen from him are highlights of Celtic's CL games and France's under 21s.

Edit: From what I've seen he looked good though.

@Bwuk and @JPRouve are probably the ones to ask.
 
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yumtum said:
Honestly, that video really didn't impress, just showed me how Celtic have gone unbeaten in the league so far! Terrible defending, terrible goalkeeping, he might have talent, but he's gone from a Championship where there are multiple contenders, to a championship (SPL) where 1 team dominates.

I wouldn't put him above a Iheanacho or a Rashford yet, let alone drop 50m on the guy.
Didn't Griffith's show the same kind of form for Celtic under a worse manager (granted Griffith is a tool to boot).
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Agreed Yumtum. The Scotch league makes the Chinese league look like the league of gentlemen. Dembele even looks fat and dumpy and selfish from certain angles. We can do better than take a punt on a player in a league in which players can't get back the ball from jack russells that invade and steal it.
 
Don't care which league you play, you can tell a player is class by his movement and finishing ability. Dembele certainly looks as if he is class. A certain Welbeck was so highly rated on here, but he could not get into good scoring positions, and when he did, he could not score in a brothel.
 
ghagua said:
Don't care which league you play, you can tell a player is class by his movement and finishing ability. Dembele certainly looks as if he is class. A certain Welbeck was so highly rated on here, but he could not get into good scoring positions, and when he did, he could not score in a brothel.
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Did you make that up? Can I use it?
 
ghagua said:
Don't care which league you play, you can tell a player is class by his movement and finishing ability. Dembele certainly looks as if he is class.
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Spot on, but it's still cool to throw around names like Leigh Griffiths and Kris Boyd for no reason whatsoever.
 
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yumtum said:
Griffith's looked phenomenal in Scotland.
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Not really, no. If you watch Dembele, you'll see a player with immense quality and huge potential. Griffiths couldn't get a game for Wolves until they were relegated from the Championship into League 1 whereas Dembele was a regular for Fulham in the Championship at 18.

Griffiths scores goals for Celtic but his overall play is poor and he looks like he's at his level.
 
Robbie Boy said:
Not really, no. If you watch Dembele, you'll see a player with immense quality and huge potential. Griffiths couldn't get a game for Wolves until they were relegated from the Championship into League 1 whereas Dembele was a regular for Fulham in the Championship at 18.

Griffiths scores goals for Celtic but his overall play is poor and he looks like he's at his level.
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I've never seen Dembele play, only that YT video above, and from that all I saw was poor defending and goalkeeping, nothing to suggest he's the hottest property in football, I think he needs to test himself in a more competitive league, I'm sure he has talent, but a number of championship players have excelled in Scotland (Kris Commons was okay for Derby but he was the main man at Celtic at one point).
 
yumtum said:
I've never seen Dembele play, only that YT video above, and from that all I saw was poor defending and goalkeeping, nothing to suggest he's the hottest property in football, I think he needs to test himself in a more competitive league, I'm sure he has talent, but a number of championship players have excelled in Scotland (Kris Commons was okay for Derby but he was the main man at Celtic at one point).
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If you're judging him by his goals alone then yeah, you have a point about the SPL.

However, his all-round game is pretty brilliant for a 20 year old and he also managed 3 goals in the CL. This kid apparently turned down Arsenal to move to Celtic for first team football and Rodgers got Suarez to phone Dembele to personally speak to him about working under Rodgers etc. That's great lengths to go to, to sign a just turned 20 year old kid. It's also worth noting that he made his debut with Fulham at 16 and already back then, he was being linked with big clubs.

Nearly all of the major clubs around Europe are monitoring and scouting this kid and as I have previously said, Zidane has taken time out to personally praise him and say that he thinks he will be a fantastic player. It's also worth repeating that he has also managed to break into a talented France U21 side and has scored 4 in 4.

If you take his SPL goals in isolation, then you are clearly missing the whole picture and haven't really followed his career to-date. If you watch this guy play - it's clear as day, like it was with players like Larsson and Van Dijk in the past - that he's a brilliant talent that will no doubt excel at a bigger club and have a very fine career. The hype is completely warranted imo, and any comparisons between the likes of Boyd and Griffiths are both lazy and non-relevant. I mean, Dembele done better than Griffiths managed to do in the Championship despite being 18-19 at the time.
 
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