Moussa Dembélé isn’t a happy bunny at Celtic, and L’Equipe explain why on Friday.
The French striker appears to be barred from leaving the club, despite Lyon making three separate bids for his services, each more important than the previous.
The newspaper reveal the Ligue 1 side first arrived with a €16m + €4m offer, then upped it to €18m, and even went as far as offering €20m up front, all turned down by Celtic, at Brendan Rodgers’ request.
It all started on Wednesday when Dembélé decided to go talk to his manager in his office and ask him to be allowed to leave, having been told a few months ago the club would facilitate an exit for ‘services rendered’.
Dembélé, trying to understand what was going on, presented himself to the club’s board with a few arguments, which are listed by L’Equipe as follows:
- How can the coach block me when he pushed me to accept offer from Brighton and West Bromwich Albion in January and China last June?
- Is there really an argument for finding a replacement when, two years ago, rotations up front was really weak?
- How can Rodgers block me when he was telling me a few weeks ago, in his office, that Celtic wasn’t ‘big enough for me’?
In private, the striker sees Rodgers’ stance as ‘selfish’, and while he’s expected to be at training on Friday, Dembélé wants to hold a final meeting with the Celtic manager in order to convince him to let him go.
As L’Equipe state, the clock is ticking…
