Oliver Ntcham-The Most Underappreciated Player at Celtic?

Currently at Celtic, the club is being blessed with some truly great players. From the backline, with players like Fraser Forster (fingers crossed he is here next season) and Christopher Jullien, to the midfield and attacking force with players like Callum McGregor and Odsonne Edouard.

A player however, who seems to be highly underappreciated by a lot of the Celtic support is Oliver Ntcham.

The 22-year-old French midfielder joined the club back in the 2017 summer transfer window from English giants Manchester City for a fee in the region of £4.5 million.

Before joining the Hoops, Ntcham played for Italian side Genoa on a two year loan and looked to be thriving. He was even being quoted as “the long term replacement to Yaya Toure” by some. However, the loan didn’t fully work out in the end for Ntcham and that is when he was picked up by Brendan Rodgers.

At the time of signing, there was a lot of mystery around Oliver Ntcham. Rodgers had been hinting at a mystery new signing, who was exactly the sort of player we were after. Of course, as there usually is in Glasgow there was a lot of speculation around who this could be, but in the end it was the young Man City midfielder.

When he signed, the French under 21 internationalist spoke of his fellow countryman, Moussa Dembele and said that he was a player who had influenced his decision to join the club. And of course this was arguably a friendship that blossomed to the levels of Kieran Tierney and Patrick Roberts, before then becoming the French connection trio, with Odsonne Edouard being added to the mix. Anyway back to the footballing ability.

Ntcham also revealed when he signed, there had been previous interest from the club, speaking to his representatives in the January before he signed.

He really couldn’t have joined a better club at a better time. A team who were still unbeaten in the league continuing on from the season before and were looking to qualify for their second Champions League group stage campaign in a row. So the move really did make sense.

There was a lot of anticipation around Ntcham. Fans were eager to see what he could do and what traits he posses and it was clear to see from his debut how good a player he was going to be. His debut came in the highly controversial, champions league qualifier against Linfield, in which the Bhoys won in style, thrashing the Northern Irish side 4-0.

You could see what Ntcham possessed from this game. He had an unbelievable passing ability, being able to play a number of different types of pass. From a simple, patient keep the ball pass to a killer over the top 30-yarder. With the midfielders already at the club, there were a number of quality players who had their own skill set. Ntcham however, gave us something different from that number eight role in midfield to any other.

In this season, Ntcham played 48 games in all competitions, scoring nine goals and assisting 6. In some of the games he played he had a key influence. In particular, in one of Celtics best away Champions League performances in recent memory against Anderlecht, Ntcham played a key role being one of the best players on the park, playing a massive part in the first goal by Leigh Griffiths and scoring a decisive goal in the Champions League play off game in which Celtic were beginning to face intense pressure, against Kazak side Astana. He also scored the 2nd and deciding goal in the Scottish Cup final against Motherwell.

Arguably the best performances from him in this season, came against Rangers. In probably the biggest game of the season at Ibrox in which we ran out 3-2 winners, Ntcham showed how good his ability was even down to 10 men and played a part in the ever famous Edouard goal which won the game. He was also a standout in the 5-0 performance during the game that Celtic secured the title.

There was real potential shown in this season and many fans couldn’t wait to see what else he had to offer.

Next season was hit with a little bit of turbulence, not only for Ntcham but also the club as a whole. It all looked to be starting so well, until the reported fallout between Brendan Rodgers and the board, which also led to star player and friend of Ntcham, Moussa Dembele departing the club

Ntcham was still staring though. Just a day after Dembele had left, Ntcham put in a Man of the Match performance against Rangers, scoring the crucial goal in the 1-0 victory. It was becoming clear how much Ntcham relished these occasions and games against Rangers. In the majority of games against the city rivals Ntcham always seems to have a star role.

The season did go a bit down hill for Ntcham. He had his injury problems and missed a number of games, including the time where Celtic were transitioning between managers from Brendan Rodgers to Neil Lennon. This came out with a bit of a drop in form, with many blaming the departure of his close friend, Moussa Dembele, on this.It also became a little bit sour at one point. In an interview Ntcham was quoted talking about being ‘too good for the club’. The interview may have been mistranslated by some but this really didn’t look good for the Frenchman. Links began to come about of other clubs, such as Porto and there was even talk of him being close to a move back to France with Marseille.

This is where Neil Lennon stepped in and really revitalised his career with the Scottish Champions. He was quoted as to “Having a number of pep talks” with Ntcham. Ever since this he has been a real favourite of Neil Lennon’s, especially in the second half in the 19/20 season.

Even though he did start the season out well, scoring in the first game of the season against St Johnstone there were still a few players ahead of him in the first six months of the season, with the midfield three of Scott Brown, Callum McGregor and in particular Ryan Christie showing great consistency, so it was always going to be hard for Ntcham to break in. He did have his time in the team though, again scoring some wonderful and crucial goal.

Two goals stand out for me. The first of which was arguably the better of the two in terms of ability and technique was against Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup. From around 30-yards out, Ntcham absolutely ripped a shot into the top corner of the net. The keeper was left with no chance, the ball was so far into the top corner.

However, the second goal will likely be the one that is remembered most by the Celtic faithful and was recently voted goal of the season is his late winner against Lazio. This goal really was so special and something very few players in the squad would have the ability and bottle to do. As Lazio were pushing for a last minute winner, they sloppily gave the ball away to Edouard. He then found Ntcham in acres of space at the corner of the box. At first it looked as though he had completely messed up his opportunity with the first touch. His second touch was thing of beauty but. The 24-year-old had the audacity to dink the ball delicately over the onrushing Lazio goalkeeper. This sent the fans, including me (and also by the sounds of it, Chris Sutton) into absolute pandemonium, with Ntcham releasing his now famous summersault celebration. It really was one of the greatest moments of the season.

After January though, Ntcham really came into his element. After the loss to Rangers on the 29th of December, Neil Lennon and his coaching staff had to change something, and they did. The introduced the 3-5-2 formation. This formation regularly feature both Brown and McGregor again. But with Christie unfortunately picking up an injury and also facing a suspension, Ntcham stepped up to the plate.

He played a key role at the spearhead of the midfield, in behind the duo of Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard. This change in formation was a huge part in Celtic’s continued great form after the break. Ntcham was really thriving and the likes of Christie and Rogic were struggling to get back into the side due to his performances.

Some of our best performances of the season, Ntcham really stood out in. Away games against Motherwell and St Johnstone, a game where he scored another impressive, underrated goal, come straight to memory for me.

Despite all the, key performances, crucial and important goals I still feel he is one of the most underappreciated players at Celtic.

He is still heavily criticised by a number of fans, who the majority of the time claim he is far too inconsistent or he doesn’t do much the majority of the time but for me I just do not agree.

Yes, at times he can be a little inconsistent and he can have his absolutely wild shots from outside the box which end up in the back row of the stand but I also feel some fans dont always see the influence Ntcham is having on a game. He isn’t always playing these killer 30-40 yard passes or scoring screamers like he has shown he can do, but he is still having a big impact on the game as a whole and I think this is why Lennon likes him so much.

He is continually linked away from the club, for transfer fees which should and will never be considered by the club. When you do see these ridiculous rumours with small fees though, there are always a few fans who would be happy enough for him to leave on a cheap and it frustrates me.

Some fans in Scotland, at times don’t seem to appreciate players of Ntcham’s calibre and ability because he doesn’t go flying into challenges or have aggression like others do, but that just isn’t his style and it isn’t something I would want to see him do.

Of course Ntcham does also have his fans in Scotland with a good number of people speaking in such high regard of him and his ability that he has shown over the last few years.

Maybe it is just me and some others who see it and it may be a controversial point to some fans but I believe Ntcham can be and has shown he has big influence on this squad. He has shown with these big goals and is usually a stand out performer in big games, including the majority of games against Rangers. We should be trying our best to keep a hold of him for at least one more season, to complete the 10 in a row journey, as he will continue to thrive under Neil Lennon.

Here’s hoping he is here for next season and he can change some fans opinions on him as a player to see how influential he can be for Celtic Football Club. When he does eventually leave, I think a lot will look back and will be able to see how good a player he actually was over the years and realise he was underappreciated by too many.

This piece was also written and posted on my blog, in which I post all sorts of Celtic content on and also some stuff around Scottish Football. From match reports to features like this, I try to cover all aspects of Celtic for fans to read about and enjoy. If you would like to check it out there will be a link below that will take you straight to the website. Whenever I post an article, I will post it first on Twitter (@LewisLaird01), so drop me follow if you want to know when my latest pieces come out. Any feedback for anything is also greatly appreciated and feel free to drop me a DM about it. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed

https://lewisblogonline.wordpress.com/