Look, there’s no nice way to say this: Olivier Ntcham’s loan to Marseille from Celtic has been an absolute disaster.
There was a lot of hope in the south of France when it was announced the French midfielder would be arriving until the end of the season from Parkhead with a very affordable €5-6m purchase clause, but it all crumbled as soon as André Villas-Boas announced he would be resigning because of the deal.
His successor, Jorge Sampaoli, hasn’t had the best of luck in getting the most out of the Celtic man, and it was all too visible in Marseille’s recent 3-0 loss to OGC Nice.
La Provence look at the multiple loanees’ situations at the Ligue 1 club on Monday, starting off with Ntcham.
They wrote ‘all you have to do is what the behaviour of the former Atlético Mineiro manager’ when both he and Michaël Cuisance (who will be returning to Bayern Munich) are on the pitch.
It was on display at the Allianz-Riviera, as Sampaoli ‘was on the verge of a stroke every time the ball went towards [Ntcham’s] feet, such was the former France U21 international’s inability to seemingly understand what was asked of him’.
Hooked at half-time in that game, his only appearance since then was a one minute cameo at the end of a 3-3 draw against Montpellier.
La Provence then ask the question: ‘Will we see him in a competition before he returns to Scotland? Doubts are allowed’.
That’s why, for them, the €5m purchase clause ‘shouldn’t be triggered’, thus sending Ntcham back to Parkhead, where he will once again become Celtic’s problem.
