Olivier Ntcham has been completely written off as a summer signing by Olympique Marseilles.
The midfielder moved to the French side on transfer deadline day in January with high hopes from the player and Celtic that the option to buy would be taken up.
Almost as soon as the loan was completed problems arose, the morning after Andre Villas-Boas delivered a blistering media conference which made it quite clear that he was against the move.
Whether that was a ploy to get out of the club or the true course of events it meant that Ntcham started under a cloud- something that he hasn’t been able to break free from.
After 120 minutes of Ligue 1 action split over four appearances the door to Marseilles has closed on Ntcham with an uncertain final year of contract awaiting him back at Celtic.
Le10sport reports:
In the grip of sporting difficulties, OM had activated the summer and winter transfer window to find a relay medium capable of bringing added value to the Marseille midfield. Not benefiting from enormous means to recruit, the Olympians leaders opted for a loan with option to buy for Michaël Cuisance at the end of the summer. But with Morgan Sanson leaving for Aston Villa, that hole had to be filled in the middle. Again, a loan with an option to buy was made by OM, it was Olivier Ntcham who landed from Celtic.
Deemed unnecessary by André Villas-Boas, the recruitment of Olivier Ntcham would have pushed the Portuguese technician towards the exit at the end of January. Since then, Jorge Sampaoli has not really managed to get Cuisance back on his feet or to launch Ntcham.
In November 2018 Celtic announced that Ntcham had signed a new Celtic contract ‘until at least the summer of 2022’.