Winning possession from Valon Berisha’s slack pass, he drives at the backtracking Lazio defence. The most pertinent example is his contribution to possibly the highlight of Celtic’s season so far his assist for Ntcham’s last-minute winner at the Stadio Olimpico against Lazio. In possession, he often appears like he’s waited too long to pull the trigger to shoot or play someone in, but he almost always times the pass or shot exactly and with the most appropriate weight and power too. Out of possession, his choice and timing of runs are sublime, as is his intelligence in dragging players out of position for team-mates to exploit. You can pick out his variety of finishes and serene composure in front of goal as his best quality, or that subtly precise dribbling, but for my money his best asset is his decision-making. With 3,661 competitive minutes played this season, he’s averaging a goal contribution every 80 minutes. For Celtic, he’s scored 27 goals, but also provided 19 assists in 2019-20. He has grown into a genuinely great player, excelling in every fresh European challenge and racking up ludicrous goalscoring figures for the France Under-21 side, with 11 goals in just six appearances. He became Celtic’s record signing at the end of the loan spell, joining for £9 million in 2018, but he has more than repaid that faith. He was once an 18-year-old PSG loanee, the peripheral understudy to Moussa Dembele, an erratic finisher with a clunky first touch. Whether you agree that he’s Celtic’s best striker since Henrik Larsson or not, the steepness of his development trajectory over the past two and a half years has been stark to witness first hand. It was an individual display almost comically above everyone else on the pitch, a performance so superior that it became bittersweet it arrived with the implicit understanding that no-one that good stays in Scottish football for very long. A few minutes later Edouard and Griffiths combined wonderfully before the former slid an immaculately weighted ball for Olivier Ntcham (who could only blast over from eight yards).Įverything Edouard touched turned to gold, even when his team-mates couldn’t quite match his level.
Having mystified Motherwell’s Declan Gallagher by twisting and turning him into a stupor, he dinked an inch-perfect cross for Griffiths to head off the crossbar.
The nonchalance and the effortless gracefulness complemented by delicate close control and an understated but ruthless technique.Įdouard, who turned 22 in January, should have had two assists that night, too. The nutmegs, the turns, the befuddling feints, the gentle shrugging-off of a desperately lunging opposition player. In the second half, he scored an elegant dipping free-kick to complete his brace, but it was the flashes of brilliance that escaped the goals compilation that truly delighted. But this was Edouard’s showcase, his canvas on which to create. McGregor - alongside Fraser Forster, Edouard’s likeliest competition for the Player of the Year crown - also shone that night, scampering all the way from halfway to the byline to set up Leigh Griffiths for the second, before volleying in a rocket from outside the box himself for the fourth.
Then Callum McGregor and Edouard sprung to life, exchanging a neat one-two before the Frenchman calmly tuck away his opener into the corner on the second attempt. Motherwell started with intent, menacingly pressing Celtic high, just like they had in the same fixture last August, when Celtic came from behind to win 5-2. Though it now seems an eternity ago, it was the evening of February 5, when Celtic’s lead at the top of the table wasn’t as steep as it was when football stopped last month. But the moment that resonates most vividly for me, that best argument in favour of him being named Celtic’s player of the season, isn’t a storied European performance or a deftly executed derby goal, but the exhibition that followed the Celtic players’ 15-minute drive from Parkhead down the M74 to Fir Park earlier this year.
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