Chris Sutton criticises Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham

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Chris Sutton has delivered a rant on Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham, where he’s praised manager Neil Lennon for preparing to have talks with him over his recent comments.

The 23-year-old has recently made some comments to L’Equipe, where he expressed disappointment that he didn’t join Porto, admitted he was flattered by interest from Marseille, while also knocking the standard of Scottish football.

Lennon has responded by stating he will speak to the Frenchman about his comments.

“You can imagine, we find the comments untimely and not particularly accurate,” Lennon said, as quoted by BBC Sport.

“When I speak to Olivier, it will be done privately, but I will be speaking to him about his mindset and his attitude towards the club as well, which, the way it came across, didn’t look good.”

Ex-Celtic striker and current pundit Sutton is certainly not pleased himself with the current Ntcham situation.

France Football has reported that Celtic want £15million for Marseille target Ntcham, but Sutton is quick to point out that his form last season was poor.

“Neil Lennon quite right to call out Olivier Ntcham… for a league Ntcham found as “not challenging enough” last season he was bang average. Ntcham would be better served to let his football do the talking… he is not a £15 million player based on what we saw last season…” Sutton wrote on his personal Twitter account.

TBR’s View:

Celtic need to resolve the Ntcham situation quickly if they can and work out where his future lies.

He is still under contract with the Scottish giants until 2022 and on his day can be a rock in the centre of the park, but there is little point keeping him around if his heart is set on exiting Parkhead.

The box-to-box central midfielder is at his best when he is breaking up play in front of the defence, before driving forward in possession and chipping in with goals.

Ntcham’s form did nosedive last season, albeit injury problems didn’t help, but it will be intriguing to see the outcome of Lennon’s discussion with him.