MOUSSA Dembele was undaunted by making his debut against Rangers in front of just shy of 60,000 people at Parkhead at the tender age of just 20 at the start of this season.

So, it is little surprise the speculation - some of it wild and uninformed, but much of it bang on the money – about which clubs are interested in signing him and how much they are prepared to pay to secure his services hasn’t fazed the Celtic player.

The French striker has reacted to the stories about, to name just a few, Chelsea, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain preparing multi-million pound bids for him in much the same way as he has to the abuse he receives from opposition fans or a late tackle from a frustrated defender; with a shrug of his shoulders and a smile.

Ally McCoist, the former Rangers striker and manager, this week rubbishing suggestions that he can command a £30 million transfer fee when he does depart will barely have registered with a grounded young man who would, as the old saying goes, be horizontal if he was any more laid back.

The focus which will be on Dembele when the fourth Glasgow derby of the season kicks off at noon tomorrow as a result of his success in the fixture this term – he has netted in all three games so far and plundered a total of five goals - is unlikely to have a detrimental impact on his personal showing.

Asked what constantly being linked with some of the most glamorous clubs on the continent felt like, Dembele said: “It feels good, but I don’t really follow the news. I don’t really look at the rumours, I just focus on my football.

“Am I worth £40 million? I don’t know. A price is a price. I can’t tell you I’m worth £40 million or £50 million or £30 million or £20 million. I just concentrate on my game.

“But it feels great because it means I am not doing bad, I think. I just have to keep going and training hard. If people talk about a change in price tags or whatever, it means we have done a great job, myself and the club. We just need to keep going forward.”

Focusing only on his game and ignoring the chatter about his next destination has certainly served Dembele well so far this season. He took his personal haul to 32 with his close-range strike against St. Mirren in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final last Sunday and is on course to better the 40 goal mark which his team mate Leigh Griffiths reached last term.

Many people scoffed when he declared that his ambition was to become the best striker in the world after he signed from Fulham for £500,000 in the summer. But now it doesn’t seem such a fanciful boast.

Dembele, though, feels there is, despite the interest he is attracting, much that he still has to improve in his game before he reaches such an exalted status. “I’m far from it,” he said. “I have done a lot, but I am still young. I am 20 years old and still learning. I have to keep training hard and pushing myself.

“Hopefully, I will make it one day. I believe in myself. I trust myself. No matter what people say I will always trust myself because I know what I am capable of.”

Dembele experienced something of a slump in form in November and December. He only scored two goals from open play in 14 appearances during that time. But the winter break and warm weather training stint in Dubai certainly seem to have been to his liking. He has scored 13 times in eight games since.

That hot streak led to him being named Ladbrokes Premiership Player of the Month from February earlier this week. “The break was good for me and for all the team,” he said. “We came back strongly. The time off was good for us.”

Dembele and his Celtic team mates, undefeated in their 34 domestic appearances to date, will go into the Rangers match tomorrow brimming with confidence. He will feed off the success which he has enjoyed against his side’s city rivals, in the first game in particular.

The jury was, despite the important goals he had scored in Champions League qualifiers against Astana and Hapoel Be’er Sheva, still out on the forward before that match back in September. But he wrote his name in the history books with a hat-trick in a resounding 5-1 victory.

“I have had some good performances this season so I can’t really look and say which one was the best,” he said. “But that was the day when my Celtic really took off. It all started from that day, so I will always remember it.”

Graeme Murty, the Rangers interim manager who will take charge of the Ibrox club for the last time tomorrow afternoon before Pedro Caixinha takes over, will no doubt urge his defenders to pay particularly close attention to Dembele.

However, the striker isn’t the only man in Brendan Rodgers’s side who has an eye for goal. Far from it. Leigh Griffiths is fit once again and scored his 14th goal of the season last weekend and Scott Sinclair also notched his 18th strike in the last eight win.

“We have goals in every part of the team,” said Dembele. “If they try to stop me there are other players who can score goals. I am glad for Griff that he has come back and scored last weekend. It is good for any striker to score on their comeback.

“I have always been on my toes, even when he was injured. It is not about a competition between me and Griff. It is a competition between me and myself.”

That is one contest that, like most of the games Moussa Dembele has played for Celtic this season, he is winning.