Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard could leave the club this summer because the club's majority shareholder Dermot Desmond has not put any money into the club for an "awfully long time."

Edouard to leave?

This is what football finance expert Kieran Maguire has said, in light of the 22-year-old switching his agent and with his asking price lowered by the Bhoys.

Real Madrid have reportedly joined the race to sign Edouard on the back of interest from Arsenal who are keen to sign him in 2021.

Speaking with Football Insider, Maguire believes Desmond is looking for a self-sustainable model and Edouard's sale will help balance the books.

“If you take a look at Celtic, the owners haven’t put any money into the club for an awfully long time," he said. "So to a large extent, Celtic have been self-sufficient financially.

“Now, if that’s going to be the case, they are losing money on a week-by-week basis, and the only way you can cover those losses is through player sales. Dembele, Tierney, other players of that standard, they’ve been clever in selling in recent years.

“If the owner (billionaire Desmond is the majority shareholder) doesn’t want to put any money in, there’s no alternative but to sell someone like Odsonne Edouard.”

Transfer Tavern Verdict

This will be understandably a huge blow for Celtic, especially after everything that Edouard has helped Neil Lennon's side achieve over the past three years.

Since his loan move from Ligue 1 giants in 2017 and his permanent transfer a year later, Edouard has gone on to score 72 goals from 151 appearances and clocked up over 10,000 minutes of game time (TransferMarkt).

Time will reveal how developments at the club unfold from now until the end of the season, in what has been a wretched campaign from start to finish.

In other news, Peter Lawwell hit with further scathing amid Celtic's Dubai fallout.