Manchester United target Moussa Dembele is staying put at Scottish giants Celtic, for the time being, claims his current manager Brendan Rodgers. The French U-21 international is being closely monitored not just by United, but also the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Barcelona who are all said to be keen to snap up the young striker.
Dembele has scored 19 goals in all competitions this season, since his move from Fulham in the summer and has been consistently linked with a move away from Scotland. Current Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, however, believes the Frenchman will stay put at Celtic for a while longer, as he insists once the players' development is over, he will make a switch away from Celtic Park.
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“Him and his agent, they want to learn, and they want to develop. They could have gone to a number of clubs in the summer and got way, way more money than up here,” said Rodgers.
“But he wants to try to do it the right way, learn and develop and there will probably be a time when he moves on,” Rodgers went on to add.
The former Liverpool manager believes if the player does depart from Celtic it would be for nothing less a massive transfer fee, as Dembele is contracted to the club for the next four seasons. The young Frenchman has certainly impressed his manager with his meteoric rise not only in Scottish League football but also at the Champions League level. United are reportedly front-runners to land the young Frenchman ahead of other rivals from England, Spain and Germany. However, Rodgers claims Dembele is staying at Celtic.
“He signed a four-year deal here, and he’s only five, six months into it,” said Rodgers.
"He wants to get experiences at a big club, learn, develop and then there probably will be a time when he will move on.”
“We are all realistic here. That was part of my role coming into here, accepting that if you have got top talents, they may be here for a couple of years and move on.”
“He has only really just come in; he loves it here. It is a huge club, he gets idolised here, he is playing Champions League football, and he is really, really enjoying this process of learning and playing for a big club.”
“I’m sure at some point later down the line it may happen, but it is certainly not something we are looking at now.”
Although Rodgers is aware of the potential suitors keen to snap up Celtic’s talisman, Dembele, has announced himself on the European stage with numerous giant European clubs keeping a close watch on the Frenchman as he develops his abilities at Celtic for the time being.
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