Leicester set to win race to sign Celtic's Odsonne Edouard

Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard looks set to join Brendan Rodgers at Leicester City this summer.

The Foxes have identified the French striker as one of their primary targets this summer and see the 23-year-old, who has scored 20 goals for the third successive season in Scotland, as the player to eventually replace Jamie Vardy.

Edoaurd was initially brought to Celtic from PSG under Rodgers, who moved to make a loan deal permanent in 2018 after he netted 11 times in a six-month loan. Since his club record £9m transfer to Parkhead, he has been a revelation, easing the blow of losing Moussa Dembele and helping the Hoops to three league titles.

Even despite their poor form this season, Edouard has recaptured some of his best goalscoring form, but contract expires in 2022 and there has so far been no indication that he will extend.

Celtic are braced to lose him in the summer, then, and it is claimed by the Daily Mail that Leicester feel they have already won the race.

The Mail go as far as claiming that Edouard has already indicated he wants to join the Midlands club and work under Rodgers for a second time, after the Northern Irishman gave him the platform to launch his career in Glasgow.

A deal worth an initial £15m is said to be in the works, though a substantial portion of that will be owed to PSG, who maintain a 40% sell-on clause.

It's far less than Celtic had previously hoped to obtain for their talisman but they are keen to negotiate a sell-on clause of their own that could see them profit substantially in the future should Edouard hit the ground running in the Premier League.

In Glasgow, Edouard is viewed as highly as the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele, who each went on to hit unthinkable heights after successful spells in the east of Glasgow. Leicester, meanwhile, see him as the player to eventually take the baton from Vardy, who turned 34 in January and doesn't have long left at the top of his game.