Olivier Ntcham is reported to be pushing for a move out of Celtic today.
The midfielder has dropped alarmingly down the queue for midfield places, making just two substitute appearances since the start of December.
Celtic signed Ntcham from Manchester City in July 2017 before upgrading his contract in November 2018 a few months after Moussa Dembele left for Lyon.
The midfielder will turn 25 next week and has made it clear that he wants out of Celtic with Newcastle and Marseille both involved in talks for his services.
The Northern Echo reports:
Newcastle officials held weekend talks with the Celtic hierarchy over Ntcham, with the Frenchman pushing to be allowed to leave Parkhead after a proposed deadline-day move to Ligue 1 side Brest broke down in October.
Ntcham has made seven league starts for Celtic this season, but has been unavailable after having to self-isolated in the wake of the Scottish club’s training camp in Dubai earlier this month.
Newcastle want to sign him on loan, but Celtic are understood to be pushing for a clause that would compel the Magpies to buy Ntcham in the summer if a series of conditions were met. Marseille have also held talks over the 24-year-old, who has 18 months of his remaining contract in Glasgow to run.
Since Ntcham dropped out of contention in the Celtic midfield David Turnbull and Ismaila Soro have emerged into the team with even Scott Brown displaced.
Ideally Celtic would prefer to get a transfer fee in for Ntcham but across Europe and even in England the majority of January deals have been loan moves. Newcastle have also been linked with Leicester’s Hamza Choudhury and Joe Willock of Arsenal.