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Celtic: Michael Owen defends Olivier Ntcham
Former England star Michael Owen has surprisingly rushed to the defence of Celtic loanee Olivier Ntcham on the back of the Marseille controversy.
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The manager of the Ligue 1 club, Andre Villas-Boas, has offered his resignation on the back of the 24-year-old’s arrival in the south of France.
It was no secret that Ntcham wanted to leave Celtic, having narrowly missed out on a move to Brest back in October on Deadline Day.
The Frenchman, who earns £14k-per-week, has played just 14 Scottish Premiership games all season, with his side sitting 20 points behind Rangers in the standings with a game in hand. A forgettable campaign for all concerned at Parkhead.
However, the ex-Celtic man found himself an unlikely ally in Owen, who reacted to the resignation of Villas-Boas on Twitter.
Villas Boas resigning at Marseille? I’m struggling to understand how he consistently gets such big jobs in the first place based on his managerial record but to belittle a young player in order to justify his reasons for departure seems a pretty low level to stoop.
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) February 3, 2021
Transfer Tavern Verdict
Owen is right. Whilst Ntcham has wanted out of Celtic for some time, it is an unfortunate situation that he has found himself in.
Let’s hope that his loan stint at Marseille is unaffected and that whoever the manager at Marseille is will give him the opportunity to express himself on the pitch, otherwise, the move will have been of no benefit to any party involved, other than perhaps the small savings that Celtic may have made on the player’s wages.
In other news, Charlie Nicholas shares Celtic behind-the-scenes fears amid Peter Lawwell’s summer departure.
