It’s been a rough few years for Odsonne Edouard.
Since leaving the Hoops for Crystal Palace in 2021, ‘French Eddy’ has never quite recaptured the form that earned him the Premier League move in the first place.
He was eventually displaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta at Palace, before enduring a torrid time on loan at Leicester last season.
Rumours of a sensational return to Celtic were floated in the summer, before Edouard eventually completed a move to Lens in his homeland,
This is his first season in Ligue 1 since 2016-17, and it’s going better than he possibly could’ve imagined so far.
Lens fans on Celtic hero Odsonne Edouard
Edouard opened the scoring on Saturday as his side ran riot away at Monaco, hammering the principality side 4-1.
Lens are absolutely flying in second place in the league table, level on points with Matt O’Riley’s Marseille and one ahead of European Champions PSG.
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Edouard has scored five goals in his last six, and fans of Lens and Ligue 1 in general are absolutely loving it.
On X, they have been full of praise for their new number 11.
@garyherve said: “What a player Odsonne is and what a match from our 11 warriors. Bravo, superb match to watch. A real advertisement for Ligue 1.”
@BloodAndGold88 said: “I admit, when you signed, I doubted but I owe you a full apology and total respect chief.”
@UGAMOOO proclaimed: “He is so clinical in front of goal. The Edouard of Celtic is back.”
@oag2oao1y171hsi joked: “The king scores at Louis II” – in reference to the name of Monaco’s stadium. He’s not quite the king of kings in the eyes of Celtic fans.
Where are other members of Celtic’s 2017-18 team now?
Moussa Dembele was probably the main poster boy of Brendan Rodgers’ first spell. He joined Lyon for £20 million in 2017, spending five years there (including six months at Atletico Madrid) before joining fellow ex-Celt Jack Hendry at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.
Kristoffer Ajer remains at Brentford, where he moved in 2021. He is a reliable squad player for Keith Andrews’ side and a starter for Norway. Stuart Armstrong is back in Scotland playing with Aberdeen.
Olivier Ntcham left Celtic under a cloud in 2021 and joined Russell Martin’s Swansea. He is now one of the key players at Samsunspor in Turkey.
Patrick Roberts has reunited with then-Hoops assistant Chris Davies at Birmingham, where Kyogo Furuhashi and Tomoki Iwata also play.