Scots pundit baffled by 'strangest decision ever' at Celtic after Ntcham reveal
Letting Olivier Ntcham go for free is the "strangest decision ever" from Celtic.
That is according to ex-Rangers right-back Alan Hutton, speaking exclusively after Football Insider revealed that Celtic are set to end Ntcham's contract a year early.
That means he will leave the club for free this summer despite being valued at £4.5million as per the option-to-buy clause in his recent loan deal with Marseille.
The 25-year-old's time in the south of France was an unmitigated disaster and began with manager Andre Villas-Boas resigning over his signing for the club.
He featured just four times in Ligue 1 thereafter and was substituted off at half-time in his only two starts for Marseille.
Nonetheless, Hutton is mystified by the decision to let the 147-time Celtic midfielder go for nothing.
He told Football Insider assistant editor Russell Edge: "It's not ideal. It's the strangest decision ever, if I'm being honest.
"To go to Marseille, Villas-Boas says he doesn't want him and then he leaves his job over it, it wasn't ideal. Can you imagine your confidence at the end of that?
"Yes, Celtic are getting wages off the books but you want to make money. That's not going to work out now.
"It would have been better for him to stay on and fight for his place.
"You never know, if he'd had a good end to the season then this could be a different conversation.
"He looks like he's been desperate to leave for a while now. He was desperate to get out in January too."