You would imagine that every club and manager will do all they can to make a new signing feel welcome, but Andre Villas Boas went for the nuclear option when Marseille signed Olivier Ntcham on loan from Celtic.
The Portuguese manager literally quit as a result of the transfer although you get the impression that the move was the final straw rather than the only thing that upset him.
There’s every reason to think that Ntcham’s confidence might be affected by those antics because he’s human, but one of his former coaches has tipped him to ignore it and become a star in France.
The Daily Record reported on some comments from his former youth coach, and you can see that he has no worries about Ntcham proving himself in France:
“Every time he played for Celtic against a French club in the European Cup, PSG, Rennes or Lille, he has been good. He has a box to box profile that OM didn’t really have.
“Olivier has ignored the context of his arrival, he is focused on the game, his performances. He has the shoulders, he is square in his head and his private life.”
Marseille are in a bit of a mess just now and the decision from Villas-Boas also coincided with the fans setting the training facilities on fire, but it seems that their anger is with the board rather than the players.
They’ve got a solid group of starting players but they’ve struggled for years with having no depth in the squad so Ntcham should get plenty of opportunities to impress.
His future next season could still be up in the air as it’s very possible that Marseille will have a new owner or manager and Celtic could still replace Neil Lennon as well, so it’s worth following his progress in France to see how he might fit in at Celtic Park next year.
