Former Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham has found his next club.
The French midfielder departed the Hoops for Swansea City right at the end of the summer 2021 window. He had been in Glasgow for four seasons, having been signed by Brendan Rodgers in 2017, and won nine trophies.
Ntcham bowed out with Celtic not in a great way, and moved to south Wales where he’s spent the past couple of seasons.
He featured fairly regularly for The Swans but has now departed with one year of his deal to go, making the intriguing move to Turkey.
But while Fenerbahce, Galatasaray or Besiktas may be on your mind, it’s actually a club called Samsunspor that he’s joined.
The Samsun based outfit were promoted back to the Süper Lig last season and are clearly keen on making an impression if they’re targeting players like Ntcham.
Their squad also includes Alim Ozturk — the defender who made an impression at Hearts between 2014 and 2017.
Samsunspor confirmed the news on Monday evening, with Ntcham signing a three-year deal in Turkey. (@Samsunspor on Twitter)
They are also hoping for a big welcome and are encouraging fans to meet their new signing at the airport.
They tweeted: “We are meeting at Carsamba Airport at 15:10 to meet our club’s new transfer, Olivier Ntcham. We look forward to seeing all our fans for this enthusiastic welcome.”
The Cameroon international’s move comes after an unsavoury ending at Swansea, where he refused to play at the weekend. (BBC)
Ntcham had been due to start his side’s opening league fixture against Birmingham City, but contacted boss Michael Duff on the eve of the game to say he didn’t want to feature. Certainly sounds like him.
Anyway, you’re unlikely to see Ntcham playing against us any time soon. Samsunspor have only ever played four seasons in Europe, with the last one in 1998.
In other news, Celtic want to sign defender Gustaf Lagerbielke and Carl Starfelt’s agent has had a part to play
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