Really optimistic- another Celtic exit in the pipeline

AEK Athens are reported to be confident of signing Olivier Ntcham from Celtic.

The midfielder has a year left on his Celtic contract but the hoops are unlikely to be difficult to deal with if they can move on one of the highest earners left at the club.

Under Brendan Rodgers Celtic paid Manchester City £4.5m for the midfielder who had spent the previous season on loan at Genoa in Serie A.

After an outstanding first season Ntcham’s form nose-dived badly during the 2017/18 season highlighted by a first half red card away to St Mirren soon after scoring the only goal of the game in Steven Gerrard’s first Glasgow Derby.

Giannis Chorianopoulos is the editor of Greek publication Sportime.

Ntcham spent the second half of last season on loan at Marseilles but that spell did nothing for his reputation as he struggled badly for game time.

A summer transfer doesn’t come as any surprise but Greek clubs aren’t known as big payers, a year ago Celtic signed Vasilis Barkas from AEK in a £4m transfer.