Olivier Ntcham’s time at Marseille couldn’t have got off to a worse start as his arrival literally made the coach quit, but it hasn’t really improved since then.
He’s struggling to earn any chances in the team and even when he does start he’s usually hauled off quite quickly, so it’s starting to look like his return to France could be short-lived.
A report from Foot Mercato has looked at his current situation, and it does give an insight into why he was struggling so much.
They point to a lack of fitness or match practice as the biggest issue, as he was already out off favour with Celtic and struggles with covid and injury meant he’s struggling to complete 90 minutes.
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The other problem is that he’s not really doing much on the pitch when he does play, so it’s leading to a situation where the coach feels he trusts other players more than Ntcham and the cycle will continue.
They go on to say that it currently looks very unlikely that Marseille will take up the option to sign him permanently, so everything points to him returning in the summer.
Perhaps there will be a hope that a proper pre-season and a new manager could give him a new lease of life and he could thrive again for Celtic, but it’s hard to see where any interest will come from so it could also be tough to get a decent fee for him.
Hopefully he does manage to turn things round in France and gets back to his best, but it’s starting to look like a completely wasted season for the midfielder.
