Celtic may feel like they’ve won the lottery when it comes to the potential departure of Olivier Ntcham. The Frenchman is rumoured to be interesting a few notable European clubs including Porto and Marseille.
According to France Football, the Hoops want between €15-17million for the 23-year-old. If a bidding team were to go right down the middle of that valuation, we would receive roughly £14million. That would make Ntcham our second most valuable departure ever.
So given his lack of consistency and the fact he isn’t a starter, are we asking for too much?
What is Ntcham’s worth?
Ntcham featured in 37 of Celtic’s 63 matches last season. Position rivals Scott Brown and Callum McGregor both played around 15 more games for the club while even Ryan Christie, who didn’t breakthrough until September and then suffered injury problems, still turned out more than the Frenchman.
Of those 37 appearances, only a few were memorable. The Frenchman was imperious in both derby day victories over Rangers and also excelled in a couple of European matches – most notably the Champions League victory over Rosenborg.
He was expected to be one of our top performers last year but failed to live up to the hype. One saving grace is his pedigree in the French national youth setup. Ntcham has 15 caps for the France under-21 side and is still seen as a huge hope for the future despite his sluggish club performances.
It is that pedigree that will likely net him a move to a new club this summer. If Celtic can get the buying team to offer their valuation then it will have proven to have been the correct decision. However, failure to sell the player this summer and the potential knock-on effect that could have on his happiness and future fee would be seen as a bad financial move.
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