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Will Rodgers ever play Dembele & Griffiths in the same team?

By Conall McCourt

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 23: Moussa Dembele of Celtic celebrates scoring his sides first goal with Leigh Griffiths of Celtic during the Betfred Cup Semi Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park on October 23, 2016 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 23: Moussa Dembele of Celtic celebrates scoring his sides first goal with Leigh Griffiths of Celtic during the Betfred Cup Semi Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park on October 23, 2016 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) /
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Brendan Rodgers and Celtic are in a situation that a lot of football pundits  describe as ‘a good headache to have’.

The vast majority of teams would give an arm to have a striker as talented as Moussa Dembele. That much was evident in the January transfer window when bids as high as 35-40 million where being banded around for the 21 year old French prodigy.

The list of suitors thought to be courting the striker makes for pretty reading for football enthusiasts with Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal all in the mix.

Despite being injured for a good portion of last season, Dembele still managed to chalk up 24 goals in all competitions and make his competitive international debut for France. For any team to have Dembele in the starting 11 would be a no brainer however, there is a man who tends to throw a spanner in the works by the name of Leigh Griffiths.

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic ties a Celtic scarf onto a goalpost which sparked crowd disorder after the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND – JULY 14: Leigh Griffiths of Celtic ties a Celtic scarf onto a goalpost which sparked crowd disorder after the Champions League second round first leg qualifying game between Linfield and Celtic at Windsor Park on July 14, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) /

Griffiths certainly played his part in the invincible season playing regularly when Dembele was injured as well as sporadically throughout the year. With his recent form for club and country he has given manager Brendan Rodgers a headache when it comes to choosing the starting 11 given that the manager tends to opt to play a lone striker up top of his 4-2-3-1 formation.

Next: Andy Coppens on 3 biggest remaining transfer needs for Celtic

Rodgers has imparted hope and giddy excitement to Celtic fans in recent days however as the 44 year old has insisted that he hopes both the French man and the Scot can play in the same team.

50 goals between them

Unfortunately, a one game UEFA ban against Leigh Griffiths will deprive Rodgers of the option of trying any kind of a partnership between the two in the upcoming Champions League qualifier against Norwegian outfit Rosenborg.

That being the case, the manager has hinted that we could indeed see it over the course of the season in the premiership on the condition that the partnership is “fluent”.

"‘It’s dependent on the game. Against a team like Linfield – and we’ll see it in the Scottish Premiership as well – you have to try to disorganise their back four.‘Sometimes having two up there can do that, just depending on where your wingers and midfielders are. We’re trying to find different structures in the team that help but it has to be fluent."

The two players are quite similar in how they play, although Rodgers has insisted that if there is a way to play the two up front he will find it.

"“Sometimes when those two have played together they’ve made the same runs.“They’re similar types of player who want to be in the box. Sometimes the fluency is broken when the two play together.“But it’s my job and the coaches’ job to say, ‘Can we find a way?’ If not, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”"

This should be music to Celtic fans ears as the two hit-men up front could be potentially lethal in Europe and domestically. Griffiths playing off the taller Dembele could be reminiscent of past Celtic striking partnerships and Larsson – Sutton and Venegoor of Hesselink – Scott McDonald.

We all wait in anticipation to see if this formation is every thing we dream it can be.

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