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Brendan Rodgers completed his first signing as Celtic manager yesterday with the arrival of highly rated French under 20 striker Moussa Dembele from Fulham on a 4 year deal.
The 19-year-oldjoins following the expiry of his contract, with Fulham now due a development fee. With 17 goals in the Championship last season, Dembele is highly rated and his signing will be viewed as a major coup for the Scottish champions. Despite reported interest from PSG and Juventus, Dembele has been sold on a move to Scotland by the prospect of working for a manager with a proven track record of developing young players.
Dembele's arrival demonstrates Celtic's continuation of their existing recruitment policy despite their change in manager. With Scottish football struggling to compete with the financial rewards in England, Celtic's recruitment department has focused on players acquired for modest sums who can be coached and developed before being sold on for significant profit. Victor Wanyama, Fraser Forster and Gary Hooper demonstrate the value of this approach and the Hoops will be hoping Dembele, who has been handed the number 10 shirt, will be similarly successful.
However, Celtic do not always have success with this approach and as Dembele arrived at Parkhead, Stefan Scepovic departed having failed to make any impact in the East End of Glasgow. A deadline day signing for £2.3 million in 2014 from Sporting Gijon, Scepovic struggled for game time and spent last season on loan at Getafe who have now agreed a 4 year deal with the Serbian. He follows Anthony Stokes, Colin Kazim-Richards and Carlton Cole out of the club as Rodgers reshapes his playing squad ahead of the new season.
Written by Alan Clark
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