Olivier Ntcham’s hopes of a summer escape to Marseille appear to be over.
The midfielder had drifted out of the picture at Celtic with the January switch to the south of France intended to put him in the shop window with Marseille or elsewhere.
From day one things looked ominous as Andre Villas Boas made it clear that he was against the move, after 120 minutes spread over four matches it is clear that Ntcham is surplus to requirements at a side struggling in seventh place in Lique 1.
Looking at the likely summer movement at Marseille, French website Sport reports:
Last winter, following Morgan Sanson’s departure from Aston Villa against a check of just over 15 million euros, former (Marseille) sporting director Pablo Longoria notably ticked the name of Angelo Fulgini (of Angers) among the potential replacements.
A track finally ruled out by the arrival on loan of Olivier Ntcham from Celtic Glasgow. Not really convincing under Jorge Sampaoli, the 25-year-old midfielder is expected to return to Scotland at the end of the season and the Fulgini track could come out of the hat.
Ntcham returning to Celtic with a year left on his contract will be a difficult situation for the next hoops boss to resolve.
The final season of a contract is a notoriously awkward time to get the best out of a player with Neil Lennon claiming that Ntcham had been looking to get out of Celtic for two years before the Marseille loan deal went through.
