ODSONNE Edouard is almost as difficult to read as he must be to play against.

His manager at Celtic, Neil Lennon, doesn’t pretend that he can tell what is going on inside the head of a 21-year-old who this season has taken his game to level which the club’s coaches would, on the QT, insist that he was capable of when he wasn’t quite hitting any heights.

The Frenchman has 44 goals for Celtic, with five this season, which includes four against Rangers and two in last May’s Scottish Cup final. That record £9million fee was some piece of business.

The lad is a star, one of the best players Scottish football has seen for years, and yet we know next to nothing about him. In person he comes over as a nice young man, smart, funny in his way and good to interview. But he doesn’t give much away.

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Edouard is a somewhat mysterious character off the pitch. However, there is no hiding from what he is as a striker, which is pretty damn good.

“I think he’s playing brilliantly,” said Lennon with a smile on his face. “Not only his goals but his link up play has been spectacular. He has the little bit of something different, has those magic feet and is deceptive.

“He’s strong and quick. There is a lot of deceptive things about him as you never know what sort of mood he’s in. He really shy, really laconic and he talks to you with his eyes more than anything else.

“With his body language, he’s so laidback but I really enjoy working with him and I enjoy watching him play. He brings a lot to the team and a lot of players are thriving off his great play.”

Steven Gerrard will be sure to mention Edouard’s name in his pre-match chats. If the Rangers defence allow Celtic’s biggest threat to run at them, trouble will soon come their way.

“He’s in great goalscoring form at the minute so going forward we are really powerful at the moment,” said Lennon.

“Odsonne is really intelligent, there are aspects of his game we will improve on as well but at the minute he’s in sensational form. The free-kick he scored last week is another weapon he uses in his armoury. He has pace and power but his first touch and technique are excellent. He’s so light on his feet.

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“It’s all about confidence, I think the player deserves all the credit as he works hard and keeps himself right. He trains well and never causes me any problems. We ask him to do something and he accepts it and gets on with it.”

Edouard is apparently a laugh in the dressing room, which comes as surprise as he’s not one of the world’s great smilers; not that there is anything wrong with that. He’s also gutsy.

He took a risk at 19 to join Celtic on loan and it was a gamble for both parties when the £9m went the way of PSG for one of their reserves.

Moussa Dembele left, Leigh Griffiths had to take time out and Edouard was able to cope with being Celtic’s only fit centre-forward with history beckoning last season. He coped superbly well.

“It’s a big responsibility being the main man, the main striker at Celtic for one so young,” said Lennon. “He’s handled it all really well. I think getting the two goals in the cup final gave him a huge shot of confidence going into the season as well.”

There is an argument to say Edouard is the best all-round forward at Celtic since Henrik Larsson.

“I’ll take your word for it as that will be up for debate amongst a lot of Celtic fans and a lot of football people,” was Lennon’s take. “We’ve have some great strikers and great goal scores here even since Henrik left.

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“He’s unique to himself, he has his own way of doing things.

“I was maybe thinking would get enough goals a year or two ago but now he looks like he has the all-round game. He’s scoring a lot of goals freely, his link up play and intelligence is fantastic.”

Edouard properly announced himself as a Celtic player at Ibrox towards the end of his first season when he scored the winner in a 3-2 win which all but sealed seven in a row, late on in a match which Celtic ended a man down.

On Sunday, Edouard has the opportunity to make Lennon a happy man at Ibrox, a stadium for which the manager has enjoyed many good times as a player. It remains the Celtic manager’s favourite place to visit.

“Yes. I enjoy going there,” Lennon admitted. “I enjoyed going there as a player and now as a manager. I enjoyed it with Hibs, it’s a great atmosphere, it’s noisy, it’s red hot, it’s colourful and it’s a derby. It’s important we compete and start the game well.

“I would like to have more fans in the stadium as I think that’s taken something away from both fixtures, whether that’s Celtic Park or Ibrox. It’s up to the powers that be whether that will change, it’s not for me to say.

“That’s my viewpoint having played in millions of them and managed in loads of them as well. It just takes something away from it.”

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And how does a legend of this fixture feel about yet another derby?

“I’m sure I’ll be nervous on Sunday morning but at the minute I’m fine as we’ve had so much on with the games and the month but now we can look forward to it.”

It’s a 50/50 game, in theory, and it is the ‘biggest’ Old Firm league match for two tears because there is a real chance of a league title race.

A win so early would be handy for either. If Celtic were to prevail, it would be a bodyblow to Rangers ev en this early on.

“You can put down a marker but it’s early,” said Lennon. “I’ve seen us win the first one and get beaten in the second and vice versa. I don’t think it will have any bearing other than perhaps psychologically for a short period of time.

“Then we’ll see how the intervening games go. Somebody asked me last week if it was a defining moment. You can ask me that maybe in February or March.” Lennon will be held to that.