Celtic FC forward Odsonne Edouard has been one of the stars players in the Scottish Premiership this season and Charlie Nicholas believes that the Frenchman can replace Alexandre Lacazette at Arsenal.
Lacazette has been tipped to move out of the Emirates in the summer with teams like Barcelona interested in signing him and the 27-goal Odsonne Edouard could be the perfect person to fill his shoes for the upcoming season.
But speaking about the possibilities of the Celtic forward moving to the Premier League, Nicholas has hinted that the 22-year-old might be out of reach for the Gunners, for a number of reasons.
Nicholas told Sky Sports: “He could certainly play at Arsenal because the way they play, his style would be more than suitable for it. The problem is getting the judgement right over whether he’s ready right now, playing every week for Arsenal compared to who is there already. I’m a big fan of Alexandre Lacazette, and Edouard has got quite a bit of Lacazette in style within his game.
“He certainly would not come to England straightaway and score 20 to 25 goals in a season unless Arsenal find a renewed belief and they get the whole team right. It’s got potential, absolutely, but I’m not convinced that they will go and buy him. The reason is that in Scotland, Celtic are gauging him as a £40m player.
“This will come down to what Edouard wants. If he wants to leave, then he will leave. Celtic will take the cash rather than have a player who is not committed to the cause because historically that’s what they have done – with Dembele, Virgil van Dijk and Kieran Tierney.
Most goals and assists in Europe this season:
49 – Erling Håland
47 – Kylian Mbappe
46 – Odsonne Edouard
44 – Robert Lewandowski
40 – Lionel Messi💫 Among Europe's elite pic.twitter.com/vtdPYwu6X9
— William Hill (@WilliamHill) April 4, 2020
“He has to go to a side that plays him. He can play with a partner and he can play on his own, but he must play in a team that’s going to give him a lot of service. If he plays in a side that sometimes gets 40 per cent of possession, he will find it really tough to adapt.
“His attitude has improved sufficiently enough to tell me he will become a top player but I am not quite convinced teams will yet be looking at him as a £40m player. But the current market, with the coronavirus likely to impact the value of players, this will play a crucial part.
“Although the big clubs have big money, it’s been pulled in. Football is going to take a short-term kicking, financially, and a lot of clubs are going to be re-assessing their transfer budgets. Clubs may have to accept what they have in many cases, and only spend sparingly. The timing could put any move into jeopardy.”
Can Arsenal afford Odsonne Edouard?
Odsonne Edouard is without a doubt Celtic’s most prized possession right now so the last thing they will do is let him leave for a merge transfer fee.
And if Nicholas is right then £40 million might be a steep transfer price to pay for Arsenal since they have other priorities too.
Celtic made Arsenal work really hard last summer during Kieran Tierney’s transfer and we fear is the Gunners are genuinely interested in Odsonne Edouard then Mikel Arteta will have to get himself ready for a really long battle.
Also as things stand, the North London club will be missing out on the Champions League meaning what they spend in the summer will mostly depend on how efficiently they can get rid of their unwanted players.
