McLeish: I can’t believe Celtic star’s fall, Rae used to crow to me how ‘Special’ he was
Alex McLeish can’t believe how far Olivier Ntcham’s star has fallen at Celtic from the days Alex Rae used to rave about him.
The former Rangers and Scotland manager, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, admitted he was blown away by the French midfielder’s early Parkhead performances and suggested there must be a big reason for his plummet.
Ntcham sealed a temporary switch to Marseille on transfer deadline day, with Football Insider revealing the Ligue 1 outfit have an obligatory purchase clause for the end of the season.
Ntcham fell out of favour under Neil Lennon during his final months at Celtic and made just seven league starts this season, the last of which came back in October.
McLeish revealed he had high hopes for the “imperious” Frenchman when he first arrived in Glasgow and admitted he could not put his finger on what went wrong.
“I remember Alex Rae saying to me a couple years ago this guy Ntcham is something special, a really good player,” McLeish told Football Insider assistant editor Russell Edge.
“I did manage to see him when I went to Rangers and Celtic game, they played at Ibrox and he looked imperious, he really was tremendous. I thought to myself: ‘This guy’s a really good player,’ so there is a player in there, first and foremost.
“You get guys with big egos, you get guys that maybe don’t believe in themselves, all sorts of mentalities but Ntcham seems to be a guy who really believed in himself.
“I don’t know if it was down to injuries that he maybe missed games, or if it was due to lack of form because how could he go from a level Alex Rae and I saw a couple of years ago to a lower level to not get in the team? It just seems something wasn’t quite right.”
Ntcham looks set to leave Celtic this summer with 147 games, 24 goals and 13 assists under his belt for the Bhoys.
However, he played just once in the Hoops’ last 11 Premiership fixtures.
In other news, a football finance expert claims Celtic could boost their revenue significantly by copying Rangers.