LYON have joined the list of clubs linked to Celtic’s French midfielder Olivier Ntcham. Having successfully raided the Scottish Champions last August with the capture of Moussa Dembele, Lyon may fancy their chances of beating both Marseille and Porto to the signature.
Certainly the fact that Ntcham’s best friend Dembele is already at the club would be a considerable selling point, although there has been interest in Dembele from England but Lyon have stated that he is not going to be sold this summer. That remains open to debate though given the likes of Manchester Utd and Arsenal being interested in bids that would double the money Lyon paid to Celtic.
Peter Lawwell is looking to at bids of between £12-15million for the French Under 21 star who will be playing for his country in the forthcoming Under 21 in Italy and San Marino, with France kicking off against England on Tuesday.
Scouts from both Ligue 1 sides are expected to be there, as are Porto to watch The Celtic midfielder who penned a new deal at Celtic last November which extended his contract until 2022.
With Ntcham likely to be on his way – the player is apparently keen on a move – David Turnbull, the 19 year old Motherwell midfielder, looks set to complete a 5 year deal to become Neil Lennon’s first signing since being re-appointed as Celtic manager.
Earlier this week Celtic had a bid of approximately £3million for Turnbull accepted by the Fir Park side and personal terms are expected to be concluded shortly.
A bidding battle for Olivier Ntcham involving these three sides and possibly others could see Celtic reach their asking price of £15million for Ntcham and that would help Neil Lennon fund further arrivals with another 3 or 4 anticipated.
Ntcham indicated his intention to leave Celtic by following in the footsteps of Charly Musonda ad deleting all Celtic related colleagues from his social media accounts. Dembele also used his social media accounts to help force a move from Glasgow last summer.
