BRENDAN RODGERS says he will wait until the end of the season before deciding on the future of Odsonne Edouard.
The French striker is on loan for the remainder of the campaign at Celtic Park from Paris St Germain with the option to buy and has impressed the Celtic manager during his sporadic stints in the side.
|The 19-year-old has managed just 13 appearances in green and white since arriving in August but caught the eye with a stunning hat-trick against Motherwell back in December.
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Celtic would have to shell out a club record £7m for his services on a permanent basis, and Rodgers is content to give the young forward time to prove his worth.
"I will just assess it at the end of the season," he said. "I have been really impressed by him and he is getting better and better each week.
"The boy has big talent and is a real worker as well. He works very hard for the team and he’s the type of performer I like.
"His English is getting better through lessons and he’s still only very young at 19 - so he has a lot of potential there. I don’t have any qualms if I have to put him into a game to play.
"He has grown each week he has been with us. It’s just a case of assessing it. There’s no rush.
"It’s for both sides as well - he might love it with us, he might not.
"I know he is really enjoying it but there is no rush to commit on either side now.
"It’s just a case of seeing how it goes in the second half of the season and we will review it then."
As mentioned above, it's been a stop-start beginning to Edouard's time in Scotland, mainly due to the high level of performances coming from either Leigh Griffiths or Moussa Dembele in front of him.
Yet Rodgers says there has been no issue with his young loanee demanding more game time.
"No, I communicate with the players a lot so we know where we are at," said the Celtic manager.
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"He is a very humble boy. He has come in very football bright. He works hard and like I say he is improving and understands where he is fitting in and what his role is.
"He knows I will play him and be prepared to play him."
Bringing in a third striker was always something Rodgers was reluctant to given Celtic generally always play a system with only one playing at any given time.
Having said that, he believes communication has been the key to keeping a happy ship.
He added: "It’s not easy to make it work, but I think as long as you give clarity to the players in terms of where they are at.
"They can only play so many games.
"We had a situation last year where we only had two strikers.
“It’s a real tough balancing act. I don’t think you can bring a third striker who is an experienced player.
“You are looking for a young talent with big potential who knows where he sits in the hierarchy, but he’s always ready.
“By virtue of that, it has kept Moussa and Leigh fitter than they were last year.
“Normally, when one was playing and one wasn’t, it can sometimes psychologically affect, but if you have another one who can then jump over the two, the two know they have to be on their toes all of the time."
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