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Moussa Dembele: Striker says he has 'achieved everything I can as a Celtic player'

Last updated on .From the section Celticcomments372

Moussa Dembele
Moussa Dembele in action against Standard Liege in July

Moussa Dembele says he left Scottish football after he had "achieved everything he can as a Celtic player".

The 22-year-old joined Lyon for £19.7m on Friday, 24 hours after missing the Europa League win over Suduva.

Manager Brendan Rodgers said in a statement the transfer was "to serve the best interests" of "the culture and environment" at Celtic.

"That September when we annihilated Rangers was surely the moment we fell in love," Dembele wrote on Twitter.external-link

The French striker said he would "miss playing against Rangers", and told fans that together they had "conquered Glasgow".

The comments came after Dembele had earlier claimed Celtic "gave in" to sanction his late deadline day move to Lyon.

"I was determined to come to Lyon," Dembele said at his unveiling after signing a five-year contract.

"Those in charge gave in. It was hard. I gave everything and in the end, it paid off."

On Thursday Dembele, who signed for Celtic from Fulham in 2016, tweeted "A man, without his word, is nothing. A real man keeps his word", and "A lie has many variations, the truth has none".

The following day he briefly took part in training before going back into the club's Lennoxtown training ground hours before his transfer was confirmed.

Celtic signed midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu and brought in defender Filip Benkovic on loan on Friday, but did not bring in a replacement striker after Dembele's exit.

"It was a certainty that I wanted to come to OL," added the Frenchman.

"I have played with a lot of Lyonnais players. They all told me to come. I'm a scorer, it's my first quality.

"Celtic needed a replacement to finalise."

The Ligue 1 club's president Jean-Michel Aulas said Dembele's determination to move to Lyon made the transfer happen.

"Without that, he could not have come," he explained.

"The club has a financial strength that is recognized throughout Europe. Sometimes you have to use it."

'Celtic have lost their best striker' - reaction

Former Celtic striker & BBC Sport Scotland pundit Scott McDonald

It's an amazing amount of money. But they've lost, I believe, their best striker at this moment in time and haven't found a replacement.

To even be thinking about turning it down just shows you what Celtic's position is financially. But Celtic fans won't thank you for that right now.

There will be people concerned at the moment about whether they can go with two strikers up until January.

I'm hugely surprised. Everything that came out yesterday and the day before was that he wasn't going to be sold.

If the cryptic tweets were anything to go by then there certainly has been a fall-out.

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372 comments

  • Comment posted by Aphexus, at 13:56 1 Sep 2018

    A man keeps his word.

    Dembele 'I am committed to Celtic for the long term'

    Indeed, a man does keep his word.

  • Comment posted by PTM, at 13:09 1 Sep 2018

    This is Dembele almost apologising, or at least admitting he was at fault. So he pushed for it, pretty crap to use social media in the way he did but this shows Celtic tried everything to keep him. Correct decision to accept the bid, clearly wanted to leave

  • Comment posted by Tonyteehee, at 13:29 1 Sep 2018

    They give in because they prefer having men playing for the club and not huffy children. Hope Lyon have a soft cushion on their fitness recovery table given that is where Mr Dembele spends most of his time. Maybe give him a bairns dummy as well.

  • Comment posted by heezamrchief, at 13:16 1 Sep 2018

    Celtic didnt give in to Dembele, the decision was made in Athens 2 weeks back. Celtic held on to the last minute, to get the best deal (and lest not be kidded, it is a cracking deal) and secondly with it being last minute they can claim they didnt have time to reinvest. This doesnt fool the supporters though, its been a poor window, John McGinn is still hard to take

  • Comment posted by U16993521, at 13:09 1 Sep 2018

    I don't think Celtic had any option

    Like any club, you cannot hold on to a player who has basically thrown the dummy out the pram

    So you get rid of him for as much as possible

    Pity we didn't get as much as l'pool got for cotinyo

  • Comment posted by OneForTheFallen, at 13:29 1 Sep 2018

    @.....7......U16627255. Overthrown them? You're behind them in the league, have no trophies and haven't beaten them in years. But aye, you've overthrown them.

  • Comment posted by U15456693, at 13:48 1 Sep 2018

    No doubting he's talent but 19.7 m for a player that is moody and temperamental is a good bit of business for Celtic

  • Comment posted by Sinhealer, at 13:33 1 Sep 2018

    It's a shame it ended the way it did, toys out the pram and all that.

    Can't forget we just sold a player we bought for 400k for 20 million. Hopefully some of that gets reinvested come January or next summer, if not then it's a bloody disgrace.

  • Comment posted by chunkymonkey, at 13:13 1 Sep 2018

    Dembele gone, move on...

    No one is bigger than the club.

    Good luck Moussa, step up French Eddy.

  • Comment posted by Cruzeirense, at 15:27 1 Sep 2018

    @115 Bluebore
    I,ll let other people judge. However just to make it simple son you said Celtic could never win more titles than Rangers and said that was fact. We only need 6 more in the future to have more than 54. Your NEW team however need another.....well 55 really. Simple really.

  • Comment posted by You, at 13:49 1 Sep 2018

    Celtic haven't lost their best striker, they've lost a petulant child. He'd have been a liability for the remainder of the season had he stayed but a £19.2 million profit on an injury prone player is great business.
    Celtic have more than enough goals in their squad so I don't think they'll miss him that much. Larsson scored more in 1 season than Dembele managed in 2.

  • Comment posted by U17125287, at 13:47 1 Sep 2018

    Dembele is a decent player but he is like a lot of proffessional players now.....a little spoilt Bairn when things don't go there way. Contracts are now not worth anything nowadays as most players at the highest level are money grabbing idiots. Good profit made by Celtic on a player bought for 500k.
    Hope Griffiths has the shooting boots on for tomorrow

  • Comment posted by AgeOldCynic, at 13:30 1 Sep 2018

    His Twitter feed was run by his agent who engineered the move.

    Not fit to wear the jersey and will not be remembered well by fans.

    He was no Henrik Larsson - that man was the embodiment of loyalty and an example to all professional footballers.

  • Comment posted by Sheep1, at 13:23 1 Sep 2018

    Dons fan - dembele is clearly a 'gentleman of the wrist'

  • Comment posted by Cruzeirense, at 15:34 1 Sep 2018

    @120 Son of Struth
    Congrats then to Celtic . We got 20 million for a player you rate as worth a fiver. Are there any sane Sevco fans out there?

  • Comment posted by U16357667, at 15:34 1 Sep 2018

    110 - Rangers went into administration then liquidation

  • Comment posted by billstrauss, at 13:21 1 Sep 2018

    £19.7m for Dembele, but no replacement and lost McGinn through sheer arrogance. Incredibly poor management at the top of the club. Rodgers' agent will be working hard now!

  • Comment posted by Stu_Han, at 13:35 1 Sep 2018

    Not a fan of either OF but when a player you bought for 500k wants to leave and you get offered 20m it's a no brainer. Rangers are still poor so Celtic will be confident of winning another title and can always spend in January if needed!?

  • Comment posted by Kaiser77, at 13:29 1 Sep 2018

    In reality Celtic couldn't turn down that kind of offer but this contrived situation by Dembele shows player power at it's worst.If he wants to talk about people going back on their word . . . does he remember signing a long term contract with Celtic?

  • Comment posted by Cruzeirense, at 15:22 1 Sep 2018

    @110
    You were not voted out of the league. Rangers FC were liquidated. FACT. And your reply is?

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