Olivier Ntcham

Are Manchester City in-line with Financial Fair Play?

Hopefully they are, as I wouldn't put it past our director of football pawning off Ntcham to get his son a clap on the back at City (assuming they have a sell on % on Ntcham).

 

Don't see why he would be mad keen to move to Porto tbf. He should stay at least this season then go to an English Prem club

 

Sometimes it doesn’t work out for players at certain clubs

He will reach his potential elsewhere I’m sure.

 

On an aside from the MSM media attempts to unsettle our top players like Ntcham can I also point out when we bought him he was the perfect example of buying in early for the future so a player is 100% ready when we need him. Ntcham was clearly brought in as Armstrong's replacement when the later would not sign a new long term deal so getting in Ntcham allowed us to have Armstrong's replacement on board with plenty of time to settle in. Obviously the fact that Armstrong ended up having injury issues last season meant Ntcham played a big role in the team last season probably bigger then he would have otherwise but it does not change the fact that this is how we should be aiming to time things with new signings that are key ones.

 

Being Portuguese and a follower of both the Portuguese Liga and the SPL, I’ll do my best to try and respectfully offer an explanation for a hypothetical move to Porto.

Porto always plays in the Champion’s league, almost always with direct access to the group stages, as the Portuguese Liga coefficient is such as there’s usually always two to three Portuguese clubs in the group stages of the CL. The last couple of years there have been three Portuguese clubs in the CL, with two getting direct access to the group stages.

So, playing at one of the three big Portuguese clubs usually gives you the bright lights of Champion’s League exposure, which horrifically, Celtic won’t have this year, and infuriatingly, because of coefficient rules, UEFA has made it (unfairly) so, that even as champions of Scotland, Celtic needs to go through four or five rounds of qualification just to even reach the group stages of the CL. Ntcham is definitely aware of this, and at Porto, wouldn’t have to deal with that in order to be seen on Europe’s biggest tournament stage, where he can be closely observed by the financially elite clubs of Europe.

This is because the Portuguese Liga is a more competitive league, with three very big, historic and pedigreed clubs (Sporting, Porto and Benfica) plus a fairly big and usually strong Braga as a fourth, usurping contender, vying for the title. The three big Portuguese clubs get enough coefficient points to keep the Portuguese Liga in healthy Champions and Europa league spot contention.

Because of this, the big English and Spanish and to a lesser extent, Italian clubs keep very close tabs on the top and most promising players at the big Portuguese clubs, as it’s a great league for exposure to hopefully get those big, juicy contracts in England and Spain.

Playing at Celtic is incredible, as you can’t get more prestigious and historic then that, especially playing at a packed Celtic Park every home game and with the massive travelling support, but unfortunately, the club is betrayed by the coefficient points and the lesser general exposure of the SPL, which can’t compete with the other major European leagues. For a club with Celtic’s prestige and history, one could say that Celtic deserves better.

Team loyalties aside, Ntcham obviously enjoys being at Celtic, but at the end of the day, he and his agent would view a move to Porto, which has an impressive European pedigree, having won two Champion’s League titles and two Europa League titles (sadly one of those at Celtic’s expense) and who always plays directly in the Champion’s League, as a means to get the exposure to eventually get to England or Spain or Italy or PSG, lol, to make the big bucks and the big time.

Sorry for writing a novel, but am happy to add a friendly Portuguese perspective to the forum. Also, as a Sporting and Celtic supporter, I’m happy to see him stay and build his brand at Celtic, am happy to see him stay in hoops. I don’t want him at Porto.

But who knows if this is something that’s even really in the works? It’s all rumor, but just trying to best explain the reasoning for a move like this.

 

He’s no being sold.

As for him no being happy.


What a load of utter * *.

 

He’s got Moussa and Eddy here, he aint going anywhere, the French connection is too strong.

 

BOF!

 

Supposedly knocked back a bid of 13m from Porto according to some press releases.

 

Porto can suck donkey *.

 

Unlucky not to score

 

rogic?

 

Our best player? I think so, he's unreal

 

Travesty that he cant hit a set play to save his life.

 

Probably bored enough folk saying this today but it's bugging me.

He's obviously a quality player when he's in the mood but I don't think he was today.

Mostly it was his lack of movement when our defenders had the ball and were looking to pass into midfield. I know Christie isn't as good a player but one thing I like about him is he's always looking for the ball and making runs into space to receive it, even coming back to collect it.

Ntcham today seemed to move closer to Thistle players while pointing towards other defenders who the player on the ball should pass to.

He's shown before he has the skill to receive the ball and turn with it at the same time creating so much space to run into. Tam is an expert at that but he's in a different league when it comes to shielding the ball.

I admit I could be wrong, everyone sees the game differently.

PS. Agree with ourdaywillcome that it's a complete mystery how we have so many skilful players but don't have a free kick specialist. The closest is Griffiths but we want him in the box for corners and even free kicks.

Ntcham can hit a moving ball with much more precision than one he's placed.

Mind you, Dembele is one of the best penalty takers in the world. Not the same as set pieces but thought I'd mention it.