Are we finally reaching the end of Odsonne Edouard’s time at Celtic?

The striker has relentlessly been linked with a move away from Glasgow and could well have left for the Premier League last summer.

However, after winning the club’s Player of the Season award last term, he reaffirmed his commitment to the Hoops and stated he wanted to win ten in a row.

Yet, with January approaching, that looks like a distant dream. Edouard was only on the bench during the 2-2 draw with Hibernian and his future in the starting XI and indeed in the long-term is there to be questioned.

He did score against Hibs but if a tenth consecutive crown still looks as though it’ll elude Celtic in the New Year, Edouard may finally give in and ask to leave.

After all, Football Insider reported this week that after losses of £13m, the Glaswegians may have to cash in on one of their star men – that includes Edouard.

Thus, who could replace him?

Internally they have both Albian Ajeti and Patryk Klimala but they missed out on their perfect successor in Ivan Toney. Celtic were linked with the striker but Brentford signed him instead. Since then, he has scored ten goals for the Bees.

However, it now looks as though the Bhoys will target one of Toney’s former teammates at Peterborough – Siriki Dembele.

Naturally a winger, the 24-year-old has started to play more often as a centre-forward. He has flourished in that area of the pitch, scoring five goals in just 13 outings in English football this term.

Last season, he was hailed for his impact as a striker by Darren Ferguson: “The boy has been absolutely outstanding since realising he can play as a central striker. He destroyed Ipswich last weekend with a goal and two assists.”

That bodes particularly well, but so do the comparative stats.

In fact, Dembele has more to his game than Edouard overall. Although the latter naturally has more shots per game, the former conjures up 1.8 key passes and 3.5 dribbles per game. On top of that, he is fouled a colossal 4.3 times a match.

Compare that to Edouard and the differences are stark. The Frenchman only makes 0.6 key passes and 1.3 dribbles.

A different type of player, Celtic could give themselves a more dynamic threat in attack than they’ve ever had with Edouard. Exciting times.

Meanwhile, check out the unforgivable MISTAKE that Nick Hammond made last January...