Celtic should have offloaded striker Odsonne Edouard last summer, according to journalist Stuart Hodge.
What did Hodge say about Edouard's exit from Celtic?
Edouard exited Celtic after four years at the club, including a season-long loan spell, when he joined Crystal Palace for £14m rising to £18.5m on deadline day last month.
However, Hodge feels that the Hoops should have moved him on a year earlier, when his value would have been much higher.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT about Celtic's handling of the matter, he said: “Celtic haven’t made that much of a profit. Every player has a point where you’re selling high on them, right? If you go back to last summer, if Celtic had sold Edouard then, they would have pocketed £20m+ rising to about £30m with add-ons. And that was the time to sell on for the player.
“For the club, it was like ‘oh, we’ve got a good player we should hold onto him.’ Whereas, a proper sporting structure goes: ‘this is the time to sell on him, and here’s three or four men who can replace him.’”
How did Edouard perform in his final season for Celtic?
Celtic opted to hang on to Edouard, and the striker did deliver the goods from an individual perspective.
Despite the club finishing 25 points adrift of their bitter rivals Rangers in the table, Edouard was one of the only players to stand up and be counted, as he netted 16 goals in the league.
This was his second-best return across the course of a season for the team in the top-flight during his time in Glasgow.
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Should Celtic have let Edouard go sooner?
It is understandable that Celtic wanted to keep Edouard for as long as possible given that he had established himself as one of their best players in recent years. Still, in hindsight, they may have made the wrong decision in not letting him leave back in 2020.
Although he did himself justice personally, his efforts were ultimately nowhere near enough to help Celtic keep pace with Rangers in the title race.
As Hodge alluded to, Celtic could have received as much as £11.5m more last summer than they got for Edouard this year, and that may have enabled them to revamp their squad so that they could bridge the gap to Rangers this season.
Instead, it may now take a little longer for them to get back on terms with Steven Gerrard's team, as shown in the opening weeks of the current campaign with Celtic already four points behind the Gers after six matches.