Celtic can do nothing if Odsonne Edouard decides he wants to leave this summer.

That's the view of former Hoops boss John Barnes.

Edouard has been linked with a move out of the club with the likes of Leicester and Arsenal tipped to make moves for the former PSG frontman.

Southampton are the latest club reportedly keen on the Frenchman, though Herald and Times Sport understands suggestions they have had the player watched in recent weeks are wide of the mark.

Glasgow Times:

Barnes, though, believes Edouard is too valuable to the club to let go for nothing when his contract runs out next year for the sake of keeping him around. And he reckons Celts should focus on trying to unearth a similar gem for the future.

Speaking to BonusCodeBets, Barnes said: "The harsh reality of the situation is, what can they realistically do to compete with clubs down in the Premier League who are going to pay Edouard twice as much, if not three times as much? They can't do anything. 

"And, sadly, this is the nature of Scottish football at the moment. A few years back and Rangers and Celtic, to a degree, could afford to compete with the English Premier League - a good example is when they signed Henrik Larsson. But those times a long gone.  

"What they can do is to try and unearth another gem like Edouard and get another player like that. But in terms of them trying to keep him, it's up to him whether he wants to stay. I don't think they can do anything to keep him. If he decides he wants to stay for whatever reason, then he will, but for them to be able to keep him if he doesn't want to stay is impossible."