Glasgow: Brighton & Hove Albion have made Celtic’s Moussa Dembele a key January target as they look to secure a striker who can help to guarantee them a further season in the Premier League.
Brighton’s plans may be scuppered by the aspirations of a player who has been consistently linked with bigger clubs in England, France and Italy. For now, Brighton and Celtic are also thought to be several million pounds apart in terms of Dembele’s valuation.
Celtic are braced for a formal offer from Brighton for the 21-year-old, which could start a bidding war. The Scottish champions, who on Christmas Day denied reports claiming the acceptance of an £18 million (Dh88 million) Brighton offer for Dembele, would like more than £20 million for a player acquired for around £500,000 from Fulham last year but that may be optimistic. Regardless, there is an increasing belief Dembele may move next month, at what may prove a mutually beneficial time.
His form has not matched that of last season, in which he scored 32 goals, and whereas clubs such as Chelsea and Tottenham have been credited with an interest in the past, his suitors among English teams are likely to come from those outside the push for Champions League places. Dembele has scored eight times during a campaign in which he has not been an automatic choice for Brendan Rodgers, albeit injury has played a role in that.
Brighton, among the lowest scorers in the Premier League with 15 goals from 19 games, regard the France Under-21 international as a player who could help to stabilise them in the top division. Glenn Murray is the club’s leading scorer with five goals. Tomer Hemed, who has scored twice, started instead on Saturday at home to Watford and missed chances in a 1-0 win.
West Ham United and Everton are also understood to be monitoring Dembele but it is unclear how firm their interest is. Everton passed up the opportunity to bid for Dembele in the summer, following the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United. David Moyes, the West Ham manager, has seen plenty of Dembele in the flesh having made regular visits to watch Celtic.
Dembele had envisaged signing for another Champions League club when he left Celtic but may downgrade those ambitions if the chance arises to play in the Premier League. Brighton’s manager, Chris Hughton, spoke recently of his admiration for Dembele, describing him as “a very good player”.
Rodgers has made little secret of his desire to add more quality to Celtic’s squad, after failing to make a serious impact on the group phase of the Champions League over back-to-back seasons. The sale of Dembele could clearly assist those plans.
