THERE may have been those who baulked a bit when Celtic splashed out £9million on Odsonne Edouard in the summer, smashing their transfer record in the process, but suddenly it is looking like money well spent.

There has never been any denying the ability that the young Frenchman had, but at times last season, he looked far from being the finished article.

I remember being at his debut at Hamilton when Celtic cruised to a 4-1 win, and he led the line brilliantly and scored. I thought straight away that Celtic had a real player on their hands.

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But it wasn’t all plain sailing for him in his loan spell in Scotland last season. He wasn’t always a first pick with Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths to compete against for a starting slot, and he spent a fair bit of time in and out of the team.

What he did show though was that he was a man for the big occasion, and none more so than the moment he really announced himself as a Celtic player with his stunning goal in the win over Rangers at Ibrox in March.

His wonderful two-goal display against Rosenborg on Wednesday night felt like another of those massive watershed moments, and arguably, this was an even bigger statement from the forward given that he was on his own. There was no Moussa Dembele, no Leigh Griffiths, and his side were trailing at home in a crucial Champions League qualifier. All the pressure was on his young shoulders, but he stepped up to the plate and boy, did he deliver.

Now, you can’t suddenly say he has rocketed in value after one impressive performance, but if he continues to produce the goods on the European stage, then the fee it took to bring him to Celtic from Paris Saint Germain will start to look like chump change.

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Celtic’s model, as Brendan Rodgers reiterated during the week, is to sign players and sell them on for profit, which they have successfully done over the years. With Edouard, they have stepped it up a notch further, signing a player for big money in Scottish terms that potentially could earn them an absolute fortune in anyone’s book.

Scoring goals in Scotland doesn’t necessarily catch the eye outwith our own borders, but if he can get a few more goals in the Champions League, then his value will sky-rocket. Even if they can double their money after benefitting from his input as a player for a couple of years, they will be laughing.

Brendan Rodgers deserves real credit for spotting the potential of the player, and for insisting that he was the real deal when he was being questioned in some quarters last season due to being raw.

I must admit, I was slightly concerned for Celtic going into the Rosenborg match given that Dembele and Griffiths were out, but on the plus side, Rodgers could revert back to his system of playing one up front. The only question mark was whether Edouard was capable of stepping up and leading the line on his own at a higher level than the domestic game, and he answered that question emphatically.

He is the full package. He has pace, he has power, and he has an attribute that is like gold dust for strikers; composure in front of goal. Just look at his finishes for his two goals on Wednesday night, particularly his impudent chip for his second. He doesn’t panic when presented with an opportunity, and for someone of 20 to have that ice in their veins in the big moments in big games – such as Old Firm matches and European qualifiers as he has already proven – then it is massive.

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That is something you can’t really be taught, I have always felt that it is in-built, and it is an unbelievable weapon for any striker to have.

There is an argument for saying that he could be the main man for Celtic this season. He is the most expensive player in the history of the club, and he has shown he can live up that billing and the pressure that comes with that. He doesn’t seem fazed by that at all.

The question would be where that leaves Dembele? All of the things I have said about Edouard of course could just as easily apply to his countryman, but you now get the sense that if Dembele did move on, it wouldn’t be the same hammer blow to Celtic’s European ambitions as it may once have been.

Brendan Rodgers has shuffled his pack in pre-season and against Alashkert to accommodate both of his star men, but I wonder if he will revert back to his preferred system when and if they reach the group stages and come up against sterner tests.

If he does prefer to go with one up top for the really big games, then who misses out? The record signing? Or the man who has delivered on that stage before with goals against Manchester City, Werder Bremen and Paris Saint Germain?

There are worse problems for a manager to have, and there may be a case for saying that attack could be Celtic’s best form of defence by sticking with Edouard and Dembele as a front pairing no matter the opposition. without being naive, if they are going to go down, might they as well go down swinging?

That is all conjecture of course, as Celtic need to get to the promised land of the group stages before addressing that question. One thing that certainly does seem certain though is that both will be deployed on the domestic scene, and if one or the other isn’t fit, then the best Scottish striker at this moment in time is waiting in the wings in the shape of Griffiths. What a prospect that is for Scottish defences.