Celtic in danger of losing out on Dembele cash windfall

Despite earlier reports that ex-Celtic striker Moussa Dembele could be on the move from French-side Lyon, with the club’s chief adding new perspective recently.

Dembele, one of football’s rising stars, has been widely sought after in recent years since leaving Celtic in 2018, where he scored 51 goals in his 94 appearances. Rumours have swirled in recent weeks regarding interest from a variety of big-name English clubs.

With the 24-year-old Frenchman having performed admirably of late, including his UCL quarter-finals brace against Manchester City, his price has skyrocketed, potentially being listed in the range of £45-60 million.

Luckily for Celtic, the SPFL champions currently have a 10% sell-on agreement, meaning that a sale of such magnitude could land the Hoops quite the cash haul if it were to happen.

Unfortunately, with Lyon looking increasingly likely to lose the likes of Memphis Depay and Houssem Aouar, club chief Juninho has ruled out the sale of all three:

"“We risk losing Houssem and Moussa. But we are definitely not going to lose all three at the same time.”"

Lyon’s 22-year-old French midfielder Houssem Aouar looks set to potentially join London club Arsenal in the coming weeks, while their Dutch star forward Memphis Depay is being rumored to rejoin his ex-Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman in Barcelona.

With these moves seeming to rule out Dembele’s sale this transfer window per Juninho’s statement, it seems that the young star could remain in Lyon for at least one more season with a contract running through June 2023. Juninho expressed that he believes another season with Lyon could help develop Dembele even further, saying:

"“For me, it’s interesting that he still stays with us, that he continues to progress. If he continues to improve, his value might be even greater than now.”"

Obviously, another season of solid performance at Lyon could further increase his transfer value and lead to a larger influx of cash for the Scottish champions, but a more immediate profit could be seen by fans as an aid to the club’s crucial campaign for a tenth-straight.