A title shamelessly stolen from one of yesterdays replies, and to the tune of eighties pop nugget Pass The Duchie, which is a drinking bowl, and nothing to do with drugs.
“Sneaky “Pete Lawwell, pictured below, Took full advantage as soon as manager Brendan Rodgers had his back turned and spent around half a million pounds of the unlimited warchest on a young lad from France via Fulham, and expects us to forget all about Resolution 12.
Not only that, he finally offloaded the last of the deadwood from the Celtic front line, as Stefan Scepovic joined Getafe, and the daft bastards gave Celtic £1m for him. Which if we don’t change it into Euros will be worth bugger all by the weekend.
Thing is, for the time being, its worked.
Moussa Dembele arrived at Celtic Park not only with a good write up for what he’s done on the park, but with a level headed approach to his career that is refreshingly unique in todays money laden game.
He could have gone to many other clubs, clubs with larger pay packets to dangle in front of him, but instead, he appears to have decided that Brendan Rodgers can make him a better player, Celtic would provide a better platform for him to develop, and most of all, we have better songs than any other club.
The acquisition of Dembele has been described as a “great coup ” , a “massive coup ” and a “tremendous coup ” by struggling journalists who clearly left their thesaurus’s at home, so in keeping with the trend, here’s a picture of a heilan’ coo, because I haven’t seen the latest Jurassic Park and don’t even know what a thesaurus looks like.
So, what do we know about Dembele ? And how could Mark Warburton and his intrepid scouting team have missed out on one of the English game’s brightest talents ? Hang on, maybe he isn’t that good after all…
Well, let’s see what Fulham thought about him when they signed him….
The signing of Moussa Dembélé from Paris Saint-Germain was a huge coup for both Club and Academy – with the young Frenchman an undeniably exciting prospect.
In sharing his name with one of Fulham’s biggest stars at the time, his arrival generated much interest in what was one of our most-talked about deals of the 2012 summer.
A player that can lead the line or play wide in a front three, the France youth international has pace to burn, skill in abundance and an ability to get in behind the opposition defence. Highly-rated in his homeland, Dembélé has great potential and committed his future to the Club when he signed his first professional contract in July 2013 until the summer of 2015.
The 2013/14 campaign began brilliantly for the striker as he scored goals for fun at Under-18 level, with his form soon earning him promotion to Kit Symons’ Under-21 squad. He made the step up seamlessly, notching five goals in his first four matches for his new age group.
He then went on to play for Fulham’s First Team, making his debut as a late substitute in a defeat at West Ham United in November 2013. He made two more First Team appearances before the 2013/14 season was out, also playing a key role in the Under-18s’ march to the FA Youth Cup Final.
Finished the season with 23 goals in 17 league and cup appearances for Fulham’s Under-18s.
The 2014/15 campaign saw him score his first senior goals for the Club when he hit a brace in our 5-2 defeat by Derby County in the Capital One Cup.
There has been a little confusion around the siging because there is another player in England who shares his name, but thatone is older, slower and Belgian… possibly the harshest thing I’ve ever said about anyone.
Moussa Sidi Yaya Dembélé (born 16 July 1987), usually referred to as Mousa Dembélé, is a Belgian footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and the Belgium national football team, for whom he has achieved over 60 caps.
Dembélé started his career at Belgian Pro League team Germinal Beerschot before spells at Eredivisie sides Willem II and AZin the Netherlands. He won the league title and the Johan Cruijff Shield with the latter in 2009. Dembélé transferred to Premier League side Fulham in 2010 before joining current club Tottenham for a fee of £15 million in August 2012. He was ranked 91st in The Guardian ‘s list of the 100 best current footballers in 2012.[4]
This is the one we’ve got…
Easily identifiable by the hooped shirt.
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Dembélé playing for Fulham in 2015
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|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Moussa Dembélé | ||
| Date of birth | 12 July 1996 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Pontoise, France | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
|
Current team
|
Celtic | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2002–2004 | US Cergy Clos | ||
| 2004–2012 | Paris Saint-Germain | ||
| 2012–2013 | Fulham | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2013–2016 | Fulham | 56 | (15) |
| 2016– | Celtic | 0 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2011–2012 | France U16 | 14 | (4) |
| 2013 | France U17 | 3 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | France U18 | 3 | (1) |
| 2014–2015 | France U19 | 10 | (5) |
| 2015– | France U20 | 3 | (0 |
Twelfth of July ?
Maybe we could organise some sort of parade on that day for his birthday, especially after we win the Europa League next season. Or the Scottish league…or anything.
Could you imagine the Glasgow City Council’s excuse for saying no…?
There really is no point in looking to the Scottish media for a fair and balanced opinion on the lad, so we’ll hop into this…
and head back to December 2015, and when we get there, we’ll have a look at this, from FourFourTwo magazine…
Moussa Dembele: The Fulham hotshot linked with England and Germany’s big guns
The 60-second story
FACT FILE
- Date of birth: July 12, 1996
- Place of birth: Pontoise, France
- Height: 6ft
- Position: Forward
- Current club: Fulham (38 apps, 11 goals)
- Former club(s): PSG
- International: France U20s (3 caps, 0 goals)
Born near Paris and cultivated by the city’s premier team, Moussa Dembele’s (no, not that one) footballing formation with Paris Saint-Germain spanned eight years from 2004 to 2012, coming to an end when the youngster was still only 16.
Unfortunately for Dembele and many of his peers, the arrival of Qatar Sports Investments in 2011 put paid to his chances of making it in the first team. Superstars soon followed as the cash flooded into the Ligue 1 side’s coffers, with even the finest of PSG’s academy prospects sent packing.
Speaking in September, a little over a year after leaving the French capital, Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman bemoaned the lack of opportunities for players like Dembele and he. “I think at Paris Saint-Germain, the young players are shoved to one side a little,” he told France’s Canal+. “They are a club who need to win things immediately and it’s not easy to find any room.”
Sensing that difficulties lay ahead, Dembele made the snap decision at 16 to swap PSG’s youth system for Fulham in England’s second tier – raising plenty of eyebrows in the process. At the time of his move to London, it seemed as though the highly rated youngster had chosen the long way round. A little over two years after making the switch, however, the 19-year-old’s journey looks to be getting shorter by the week.
Why you need to know him
With eight goals and two assists in 15 starts for Fulham this term, Dembele has become one of the most feared strikers in the Championship in spite of his team’s collective struggles.
The capital club are currently plonked between the play-offs and relegation zone, and are without a manager following the recent sacking of Kit Symons. Dembele’s performances within the wider strife in which Fulham find themselves have only served to underline his potential.
Since rising through the ranks to earn himself a starting berth at Craven Cottage, the Frenchman has translated his success at youth level directly to the Championship, earning him admiring glances from higher up the food chain. Reports last month suggested that Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United were among those keeping tabs on the teenager’s progress, while Everton and Tottenham were linked not long previously. Most intriguing, however, is Bayern Munich‘s mooted interest, with the Bundesliga giants said to have kept scouts behind to watch him after their recent Champions League clash against Arsenal.
Strengths
Irrespective of his age and experience, Dembele’s key weapons in transitioning from youth to senior football have been his dynamism and physical presence; this may be his debut campaign as a starter, but the Frenchman is already thriving with the physicality and tempo of the professional game.
His heady blend of pace and strength pose a conundrum that has stumped many opposing defenders in 2015/16, while his predatory instincts are improving by the week. Dembele, indeed, is the only teenager to have scored five or more goals in England’s top two divisions this season. Only four players (Andre Gray, team-mate Ross McCormack, Jordan Rhodes and Nick Blackman) have netted more in the Championship.
The likes of Jamie Vardy and countryman Anthony Martial have shown that directness and velocity can be potent weapons in the Premier League, with Dembele’s explosive running and clinical edge in front of goal likely to leave top-flight scouts and coaches drooling.
Weaknesses
Given that he is blessed with innate physical advantages, it would be easy for Dembele to become over-reliant on them. Time and experience should help to alleviate his desire to play the game at full-pelt at all times, and mean he avoids the one-dimensional accusations.
They said…
“When Moussa was 16 there was no doubt he possessed all the raw ingredients you look for in a striker,” Fulham academy director Huw Jennings told BBC Sport. “What stood out for me was not only what you could see on the pitch, but a calmness and assuredness off the pitch.
“It is not easy coming across from a foreign country at a young age, and the thing Moussa has had to demonstrate more than any others is resilience.”
Did you know?
Dembele was part of the France under-19 squad that reached the semi-finals of the 2015 Euros, alongside Bayern’s Coman (a former youth team-mate at PSG). He netted in the 3-1 group stage win over Ukraine and then again against Greece, before les Bleus suffered late heartbreak against Spain in the semi-finals.
What happens next?
The queue for the 19-year-old’s services seems to be growing by the week as January approaches. As well as the aforementioned Premier League clubs plus Bayern, Roma, Milan and Feyenoord have all been linked with the Parisian prodigy.
Dembele’s contract at Craven Cottage expires at the end of the campaign, though Fulham haven’t given up hope of him signing a new deal so that they will at least receive some sort of fair transfer fee when he inevitably moves onto bigger and better things.
With the Football League naming him their Young Player of the Month for October, it’s not just potential suitors who have recognised the teenager’s ability. With or without a contract extension at Fulham, he will almost certainly be gracing one of Europe’s top divisions in the next 12 months.
