Olivier Ntcham is currently caught between a rock and a hard place as his proposed move from Celtic to AEK Athens hands by a thread after the assumption that the two parties appear to have reached – that Celtic are willing to allow the French midfielder to leave on a free this week, appears to be incorrect.
The Greek side appear unwilling to spend any money on signing the player Celtic paid £4.5m to Manchester City for in 2017 but they have reported agreed an attractive personal terms package with the player on the basis that he is a free agent.
Celtic can activate the year’s extension on Ntcham’s contract and he’d have little alternative but to return to Lennoxtown should no move be agreed which has the blessing of Celtic. The risk for Celtic of course is that he sulks for a year, hardly contributes anything to the Ange Postecoglou project that’s getting underway and is a financial drain on resources at the club, with that money being better spent elsewhere.
Ntcham never seems to be far away from controversy these days. Earlier this year he went out on loan to Marseille and was immediately caught up in a row between the then Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas and the Marseille owners who signed the Celtic midfielder against the manager’s wishes.
Andre Villas Boas lOlympique de Marseille Photo: Norbert Scanella
Villas-Boas promptly resigned and the focus, rather unfairly, fell on the Celtic player but it wasn’t really anything to do with him. In any event the loan move to the French side was unsuccessful and Marseille did not take up the agreement to buy at the end of the season, having previously hammered Celtic’s price down to bargain basement levels.
Speaking to The Athletic Villas-Boas gives his side of the events in the January transfer window that led to his dramatic resignation. “One of the things we had between us was we will never sign a player without the full acceptance of the coach.
“And we reach January and we had an offer for one of our midfielders (Morgan Sanson) from Aston Villa.
“And the targets we had we kept missing them because they were not available or they were overpriced or when we came in we were too late. And suddenly there are no more options left. So the next day I wake up and we’ve signed Ntcham. Ntcham! I didn’t say yes to Ntcham.
“We had no conversation of me saying yes to Ntcham. So I go. And then the battle becomes compensation. We had a one-month battle to reach an agreement for me to leave for nothing, which is what I had proposed to them in the first place.”
Celtic’s transfer deal with AEK Athens for Vasilis Barkas last summer, where thee fees are paid in instalments, could hold the key to resolving the new controversy surrounding Oliver Ntcham, who seems to have been unhappy at Celtic ever since his friend and fellow countryman Moussa Dembele left in early September 2018 to join Lyon.
His time at Celtic is clearly over but as Ange Postecoglou made clear last week he will protect the interests of the club in dealings with these Want Away stars. Smart money must be on AEK and Celtic reaching compromise agreement involving a modest transfer fee.
