Moussa Dembele: Everything you need to know about the Celtic striker everyone’s talking about

MANCHESTER UNITED have been sending scouts to track his progress and the legendary Zinedine Zidane believes he has shown ‘signs of a great player’, but Moussa Dembele was a relative unknown until Brendan Rodgers brought him to Celtic during the summer.

The 20-year-old has hit the ground running in Scotland, scoring 15 goals in his first 21 games, which has got tongues wagging, but who is this prospect who has set Parkhead alight this season? Allow us to divulge.

Where has he come from?

Born in Pontoise into a family of Malian immigrants, Dembele grew up in France but moved to London at the age of 16 to play in Fulham’s youth academy, and within a year he was a signed as a professional.

He went on to make two Premier League appearances for the Cottagers, before establishing himself as a first-team player last season with 37 league starts in the Championship before his contract ran out.

With little budget to work with, Bhoys boss Rodgers went bargain hunting in the summer and snapped up Dembele on a free transfer, though Fulham were paid around £500,000 in compensation for developing the then 19-year-old.

How has he performed at Celtic so far?

 

Better than had been expected, it has to be said. Not only is he looking confident in front of goal, but he has scored a hat-trick against Rangers in his first taste of a Glasgow derby.

Nothing will endear you more to the Celtic faithful than three goals against their bitter rivals in a resounding 5-1 win, and Dembele built on that last week with a late winner in his second encounter with Rangers.

With the game deadlocked at 0-0 with only three minutes remaining, he produced an outrageous back-heeled nutmeg to hand Celtic a 1-0 win in Hampden Park, putting them through to the Scottish League Cup final (see the video above).

What exactly are people saying?

Behind the scenes at Manchester United, good words have almost certainly been spoken, otherwise they wouldn’t have sent club representative Stephen McCarthy to watch Dembele perform in Celtic’s 4-0 win over Ross County on Wednesday night.

On the record, plaudits have been widespread, but perhaps the biggest endorsement came from arguably Frances’s best ever player – Zidane. The Real Madrid boss is well aware of his young compatriot’s exploits, saying: “He isn’t just scoring goals, he is scoring big goals, important goals like the one against Rangers".

Celtic legend Chris Sutton has likened him to Chelsea hero Didier Drogba, while Rodgers has hailed his “endeavour, quality and mindset” and cites Dembele’s ability to create a chance out of nothing as one of his most valuable traits.

How does he compare to other Celtic strikers?

Obviously it’s early days, but Dembele’s figures so far stack up well against household names.

In his first 19 games for the Bhoys he had scored 13 goals, better than Henrik Larsson (10), Sutton (9), John Hartson (7) and his team-mate Leigh Griffiths (7) managed over the same period.

Indeed, he has given Rodgers a bit of a selection headache in that there’s not always room for last season’s goal machine, Griffiths, who has been outshone by Dembele so far this term.

With Griffiths having scored 40 goals in all competitions last year, Rodgers will have hit the jackpot if he can find a way to make both players continually hit the back of the net alongside one another.

How far can he go?

With Real Madrid boss Zidane being a fan, and Manchester United having watched him score in the flesh, there’s no telling where he could end up.

He signed a four-year deal with Celtic in the summer and is likely to complete a full season there, but depending on how many goals he finishes up with, the club may have to fend off interest next summer.

One of Dembele’s primary reasons for choosing Celtic was the chance to play Champions League football – and he embraced that opportunity with a sublime brace against Manchester City last month.

At 20, he has bags of potential, and it looks as though Celtic are in a win-win position. Either they keep hold of a prolific goalscorer for years to come, or they make a huge profit in selling him on next summer.