Charlie Nicholas isn’t convinced by Olivier Ntcham’s apparent desire to play for Celtic.
The midfielder endured a miserable loan spell at Marseilles during the second half of last season then saw a move to AEK Athens fall through last month.
Ntcham was included in the Celtic squad that spent 10 days at a training camp in Wales, after appearing as a substitute Ange Postecoglou claimed that the French u-21 internationalist was back in his plans.
Against Preston North End on Saturday there was no sign of Ntcham who has also been left out of the squad registered with UEFA for the Champions League qualifiers against Midtjylland.
Picking up on his column in The Express, the Daily Record reports Nicholas saying:
I am not convinced Edouard will be fully focused on Celtic anyway. Olivier Ntcham has come back and said he wants to give things another go. Do I believe him? No.
The manager has to take him at face value, although perhaps it’s telling that the French midfielder wasn’t registered in their pool of players for the Midtjylland clash.
Ntcham has a year left to run on his Celtic contract, after joining the hoops from Manchester City in 2017 he signed a contract extension in November 2018.
After a stunning first season at the club his career has been on the slide with his loan spell at Marseilles damaging his reputation in France with no French clubs linked with an interest so far this window.