OLIVIER NTCHAM has enjoyed some great moments on the pitch this season with Celtic. Yet the Frenchman wants more playing time, having failed to nail down a spot on the starting XI on a permanent basis. His hopes back in the summer of engineering a move away from the club in the winter transfer window have been dashed though by Celtic’s Head of Football Operations Nicky Hammond but these days Ntcham is happy with that, and is fully committed to remaining at Celtic for now at least.
Since joining the Scottish Champions from Manchester City, the midfielder has seen a gradual decline in his minutes at the club. While a brilliant talent without a shadow of a doubt, Ryan Christie’s brilliant season has meant that Ntcham has not had a proper look-in at his preferred attacking midfield position. And barring injuries he is not going to dislodge either Scott Brown or Callum McGregor in central midfielder.
The Frenchman caused some controversy earlier in the season when he admitted that he wanted to leave Celtic Park. Fortunately, he has managed to make amends with the fans since then with some brilliant performances this season for the Hoops. His goal vs Lazio deep into added time to send Celtic into the knockout stage of the Europa League stands out particularly.
But Nicky Hammond has made sure that the Frenchman does not try to engineer a move away from the club once again when the transfer window reopens. According to Football Insider, The Celtic Head of Operations has made it clear to Ntcham’s camp that he will not be sold in the upcoming January transfer window and any request will be denied.
To be fair to the midfielder, there have been no indications of him wanting to leave in recent months. Instead, he has insisted that he is completely focused on and happy to be at Celtic.
