Report: Celtic rejected loan bid for Olivier Ntcham on deadline day

By Will Butcher

The Scottish Herald have claimed that Celtic rejected a loan offer from Ligue 1 side Bordeaux for midfielder Olivier Ntcham on deadline day, with the French ace remaining a crucial part of Neil Lennon’s side as they search for 10 in a row.

Ntcham, 24, has played 136 times in all competitions for Celtic since Brendan Rodgers completed a £4.5million (BBC Sport) move to lure the ex-Genoa loanee to Parkhead from Manchester City. He has scored 23 goals in that time, laying on 13 assists.

Last season, he had a hand in 12 goals for the Hoops and this time around, he has played in all 13 matches – whether that is in the starting line-up or from the bench. Despite his importance to Celtic, Bordeaux made a late loan offer for Ntcham.

However, the Hoops decided to reject the loan offer from Bordeaux – in a move that would have seen Ntcham team up with Josh Maja, who was linked with a move to Celtic from Sunderland in 2019 (Chronicle), only for the striker to join Bordeaux.

C(photo by Massimo Insabato/Archivio Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

TBR’s view – Celtic right to keep Ntcham

But how long can Lennon keep Ntcham happy, given the French midfielder is in and out of the starting XI? Scott Brown, Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, David Turnbull and even more act as competition currently.

Christie and McGregor are certainly first choice as they continue to churn out the kind of consistency required to win trophy after trophy. It means Ntcham misses out more times than not. Celtic are right to keep him, but he could leave soon.

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)