MOUSSA DEMBELE arrived at Celtic in a blaze of self-confidence, proclaiming that he was in Scotland to emulate Hoops icon Henrik Larsson and go on to become the best striker in the world. Little did we know that he would leave like a drunken auntie posting on Facebook.

Eventually, he got the move to Lyon that he was agitating for, but I wonder if his social media mutterings on Thursday evening shortly after his teammates had negotiated their way to the Europa League group stages without him have rather soured his legacy with the Celtic support. At best, they were cringeworthy, and at worst, grossly unprofessional.

First, he posted a meme of what looked like a crofter looking out pensively across the sea, emblazoned with the words ‘A man, without his word, is nothing. A real man keeps his word.’ It was the sort of thing you might expect from a heartbroken schoolgirl who had just been dumped, rather than a potentially top-class striker.

Not sufficiently embarrassed by that, he followed it up with a cryptic tweet that not only referred to the fans as ‘bhoys and ghirls’, but ended with the hashtag #CarefulWhoYou

CallTheLeaderOfYours. Nope, me neither.

It was a not-so-subtle attack on manager Brendan Rodgers, chief executive Peter Lawwell, or possibly both. Either way, it the sort of behaviour that would have had Dembele hauled up before the HR department if he was living in the real world. Which clearly, he isn’t.

This is not to say that Dembele might not have had reason to feel aggrieved at that time. I have seen some fans expressing disgust at the forward for not honouring the remaining time that is left on his contract, but it is rarely as simple as that.

The underlying insinuation from Dembele, or perhaps his agent who was more than likely responsible for the social media hissy fit, is that the contract the French under-21 internationalist signed to keep him at the club until the summer of 2020 was always contingent on the player being allowed to leave should a suitable offer come in for him. The trouble is, Dembele and his agent’s idea of a reasonable offer and Celtic’s idea of a reasonable offer was clearly some way apart.

The club deemed the offer from Lyon on Thursday to be someway short of their valuation, and so booted it out. And they were well within their rights to do so, particularly with so little time left before the transfer window closed to bolster the ranks.

That has now been vindicated with the improved offer from the French giants. It is not up to the player to pick and choose what offers the club he is contracted to should accept for his services.

The revelations that Dembele had begun training with Celtic yesterday only to leave the field after 15 minutes or so following a chat with his manager was like adding cornflower to a plot that was already as thick as week-old stew.

Brendan Rodgers then said that Dembele wouldn’t play in Sunday’s Old Firm fixture even if he was to remain at the club. It would be tempting to say that was the point of no return for Dembele, but the re-emergence of Dedryck Boyata in a Celtic jersey just a fortnight or so after leaving his teammates in the lurch in Athens was an indication that nothing was impossible.

The fact that there is now clarity over the situation can only be a good thing for Celtic now though. A long and drawn out saga and having an unhappy player in the dressing room was the last thing that Celtic needed after the Boyata fiasco, and especially with the Rangers game looming on the horizon. Now they can focus on the Old Firm showdown, and what should hearten their supporters is that despite the apparent turmoil looking in from the outside, the players themselves seem to have maintained their unity.

I was surprised that Craig Gordon wasn’t running 80 yards to thump Boyata on Sunday rather than congratulating him on his goal against Hamilton, but that public showing of togetherness from the Celtic players showed that on the pitch at least, they are still pulling in the same direction.

As for Dembele, he came, he saw, but he didn't quite conquer. His undoubted potential was never quite fulfilled in a Celtic jersey, despite some moments in massive matches that will live long in the memory.

And no matter what he said on his arrival, there is still only one king of kings in the heart of the Celtic faithful.