Brendan Rodgers has told the Frenchmen at Celtic that they should be aiming for full international honours for their country.

Having been crowned World Champions following their success in Russia this summer, the path to Didier Deschamps’ side is one which is littered with household names.

But Rodgers believes that Moussa Dembele, Olivier Ntcham and Odsonne Edourad should all have ambitions of getting themselves into the squad.

“One day I think that will be their aim,” said Rodgers. “There are some very talented French boys around but they only need to look at the regard with which they are held in. You look at Moussa and Ollie playing in there and you heard recently that Odsonne’s under -17 coach thought that he was more regarded than Kylian Mbappe.

“That is the esteem that he is held in. He had a loan that didn’t quite work out for him but he is right back on and there will be a pathway for those players, I am sure.

“If you look at their under-21s, it is a very special team as well,” said Rodgers. “Moussa and Ollie have been in that and have really featured and I am sure Odsonne in the future will come into the reckoning. They have a platform with very good players and it is definitely a market that all teams will always look at.”

The French have had a reputation for producing and developing young players at their renowned Clairefontaine academy and Rodgers believes that there is much that can be learned from their ability to get the best out of promising talent.

“You go away to Clairefontaine and ’98 when it started back then," said the Celtic manager. "That was Gerrard Houllier when he was technical director putting a lot of things in place. They have two decades of big talent and some of the boys there are blessed with great physical qualities but it is also based around a great level of technique as well. We have been lucky in Britain to have seen a lot of these talents."

Celtic, meanwhile, have had another injury setback with the news that Lewis Morgan will miss the Champions League qualifiers after undergoing surgery on a knee injury.

The winger had made a solid start to his career at the club after arriving from St Mirren.

And Dedryck Boyata is a man in demand after Lyon became the latest club to be linked with the Belgian internationalist. The defender is due to re-open contract talks with Celtic upon his return to the club but there is increasing interest in the 27-year-old after his displays at the World Cup in Russia.