Club may have concerns over Edouard running down deal, says manager

Ange Postecoglou admits that Celtic may be concerned about the prospect of Odsonne Edouard leaving for free next summer, but stressed that he isn’t personally giving thought to the player’s future right now.

The French striker is in the last year of his contract and could start talking to clubs in January about a move at the end of his current deal. However, though Postecoglou says he isn’t aware of any formal offers for the 23-year-old forward, Edouard has been linked with several clubs this summer.

Some reports have claimed that Edouard may be content to spend the season in Glasgow and leave next summer without Celtic receiving any transfer fee and Postecoglou conceded that the situation may be playing on the mind of decision makers at the club.

“I think you are in right in saying that is a club concern rather than my concern right now,” he said. “No, (I’m) not concerned at all.

“If it means he stays here and contributes then so be it, but again that is stuff that I am not really spending too much time thinking about.

“I have been at pains to say that there are certain things that are out of my control that I’m just not going to waste time during this period anyway, where it is really hectic, thinking about it.

“My total focus is getting the team ready for these games, playing our football which is not easy and needs a lot of attention from me and the staff, and also working on bringing players in.

“I have left outgoings totally to other people, that’s other people’s concerns. You are probably right, there is a concern there around cashing him in, but those are probably questions for other people.”

Postecoglou is readying his team to play the second leg of their Europa League qualifier against Jablonec on Thursday, with Celtic 4-2 ahead from the first game. He sees the game as a chance to continue momentum after the 6-0 thrashing of Dundee in the league on Sunday.

That manager saw the possibility of putting together a run of performances and results as a benefit of a hectic schedule but says he is also aware of the demands on players and hopes to make “one or two” new signings in the next week.

The Australian dismissed any idea that his players would take their opposition lightly on Thursday after building a strong advantage with the first leg scoreline.

“I doubt there’ll be any complacency,” he said. “I reckon when they walk out and see the 60,000 fans anyone who is feeling a bit complacent will get snapped out of it quickly.

“The players, we understand where we’re at. When we didn’t win in the first couple of games, when we didn’t beat Hearts and we lost to Midtjylland, I still felt that the performances were okay so we didn’t get too down.

“At the same time, the last two results have meant that we haven’t gotten too far ahead of ourselves.

“We’re still in the growth stage of embedding in our principles and getting the players to really believe in them. I think tomorrow night is a good opportunity for us to progress that.

“There’s certainly no complacency preparing for the game and I haven’t sensed it from anyone in the camp. We just can’t afford to have too many miss-steps at this stage of the season.

“We’re going to try to keep developing our football and while you would like to think there would never be any complacency, there’s no reason for it to be there now.”