Scouting is a tricky business, as you can recommend all the players you like but if the club doesn’t trust you or have the finances to pull off the deal then there’s no real point.

It’s easy for any scout to claim they saw someone first, but former Celtic player Mo Camara has been speaking about current Celtic star Olivier Ntcham.

READ MORE: Striker willing to take a pay cut to join Celtic if their interest resurfaces

Camara used to work as a scout for Sunderland, and some of his comments about the Frenchman were picked up by Chronicle Live:

“I know Olivier Ntcham, too. When I was at Le Havre he was a very, very young player there.”

“When I was scouting for Sunderland I watched him three or four times and I actually told Sunderland to sign him.”

“He’s a very good player, it was sad that it didn’t quite work out for him in Italy but he’s a quality player. He can play different positions, in the centre and on the wing if needed, so I like him.”

“I think, at the moment, Edouard and Ntcham are still in the right place to improve their game. Edouard for the past few years now has scored a lot of goals for Celtic and he’s been on top in the last couple of years compared to Ntcham.”

“But I think sometimes players go to the Premier League too soon. At Celtic they play in Europe, they compete for trophies.”

In hindsight, it was probably a good thing for Ntcham that Sunderland didn’t listen to their scout and that allowed him to move to Celtic instead.

Sunderland have plummeted through the divisions and have changed managers so often that there’s never been any real stability at the club, so it doesn’t sound like a good place for a player to develop.

At Celtic he’s been able to play in a successful team and also play in Europe, so he looks well placed to move to a higher level soon if he wants to leave.

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