Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the hour that he got out of Olivier Ntcham.
The £4m signing joined the hoops from Manchester City on Wednesday and is a little behind his new team mates in terms of match fitness.
Rodgers would like to see Ntcham fully involved in the third qualifying round of the Champions League and was pleased by the debut from the French u-21 internationalist.
???? BR on @OlivierNtcham :”You can see how he moves in the game. He could have played for them, has qualities to play at highest level.”
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) July 15, 2017
???? BR: “For him, it’s just timing really. His 1st game, so 60 min enough for him and he will build his fitness. Will be a big player for us.”
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) July 15, 2017
Ntcham was replaced by Liam Henderson in the 62nd minute with Celtic ending the game with nine players on the pitch that had come through the club’s Academy set up.
Despite the 4-0 defeat from Lyon, Rodgers was pleased with the exercise that saw him rest all of the starting XI from the 2-0 win over Linfield in Belfast.
Celtic will keep a close watch on Wednesday’s match between Rosenborg and Dundalk which kicks off at 5.15 Celtic Park time with the hoops hosting the winners the following week.