BRENDAN Rodgers last night tipped his young French players to become future internationals for the recently crowned world champions.
The Celtic manager was specifically speaking about striker partners Mousse Dembele and Odsonne Edouard, but also talked up the chances of midfielder Olivier Ntcham and Eboue Kouassi.
Dembele has been close to a senior call-up before and despite the riches French head coach Didier Deschamps has at his disposal, Rodgers believes that first cap is not too far away.
âOne day I think that will be their aim,â said Rodgers when asked if any of his four Frenchmen could represent their country.
âThere are some very talented French boys around but they only need to look at the regard with which they are held in. You look at Moussa and Ollie playing in there and you heard recently that Odsonneâs under -17 coach thought that he was more regarded that Kylian Mbappe.
âThat is the esteem in which he is held in. He had a loan that didnât quite work out for him but he is right back on and there will be a pathway for those players, I am sure.â
Rodgers believes the success of French players at Celtic will help if the club ever return to France looking for young players.
The platform given to Dembele over the past two seasons has hugely boosted his profile down south and back in France, and Edouard and Ntcham will soon be at that level if they build on how they finished the end of the previous campaign.
âI think if you are on the outside looking in you see Celtic as a great club for that,â said Rodgers. âThey may not be here for a long period of time but they come in and they learn to love the club. They also see that they are improving.
âMoussa came in for a purpose and that was to get better and improve and play at a big club to win trophies. He has done that. Olivier is exactly the same. He has come in to improve and he is a terrific talent.
âOdsonne had his year on loan and we have a good relationship with PSG and us taking him strengthens that relationship but more importantly it gave us top class talent. Eboue too is young. He was unfortunate not to play more so through the form of Scott Brown and through injury.
âHe is still very focussed and he is a really important player for us. If you are looking in from France then you see that Celtic is a good option for you.
âIf you look at their under-21s, it is a very special team as well. Moussa and Ollie have been in that and have really featured and I am sure Odsonne in the future will come into the reckoning. They have a platform with very good players and it is definitely a market that all teams will always look at.â
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