It should be an advantageous time for Marseille to buy from the UK, with the Euro super strong against the pound. That not only helps with a transfer fee but also helps tempts players with wages.
Especially French ones, for example, who will have seen their UK salary drop in comparison to what it’s worth back home. Celtic’s Moussa Dembele is from Pontoise in the Paris suburbs so he’d be a good target, especially given Marseille have been linked to the player, on and off, all summer.
Yet, Marseille seem to be living an alternate reality. Wednesday’s edition of L’Equipe explains the Celtic striker has been discarded from Marseille’s list because he’s priced too highly.
So what are Celtic asking in the current market, post-Neymar, for a 21 year old Frenchman who scores lots of goals? Well, L’Equipe reckon it’s €25m.
If Marseille won’t pay Celtic €25m for Dembele it makes one wonder what exactly they would pay for a striker.
This is all great news for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic, and they’ll be hoping Marseille don’t have a reality check before the window closes.
Loaning a striker is now likely to be the welcome outcome for Marseille, but it’s hardly the fanfare situation fans had been encouraged to expect.
