On deadline day, Marseille took Olivier Ntcham on loan from Celtic and the French club have an option to make his transfer permanent in the summer.
The midfielder’s arrival was not approved by André Villas-Boas and the former Tottenham Hotspur manager publicly stated he opposed signing the 24-year-old.
Despite Villas-Boas’ suggestion, Pablo Longoria, the Ligue 1 side’s director of football, went ahead and brought in the Celtic owned player.
The Portuguese coach’s public comments came prior to Villas-Boas’ exit and now Nasser Larguet is the interim manager.
According to Le Phocéen’s Romain Canuti, Ntcham already knew his move to the French club would likely cause drama, but he still went ahead with it.
“At the moment I don’t know. In terms of his qualification, I will see administratively what is going on,” Larguet said.
L’Equipe states all players who arrived in France from the United Kingdom in the final days of the transfer window must self-quarantine, even if their Covid-19 test results are negative and have ‘already contracted the disease recently’.
This ‘protocol’ was never confirmed by Marseille for several days, with the club ‘merely indicating that the legal department had studied the situation, without further clarification’.
Ntcham trained with his new teammates on Friday. Whether he will be part of the squad to face PSG? L’Equipe states: ‘Legally, it seems complicated’.
The player’s woes continue after leaving Celtic and it remains to be seen whether or not he will face any sanctions for not following the quarantine protocol.
