da winzada777： Celtic completed their third signing of the summer this week, finally officially announcing Olivier Ntcham, who had been on the verge of signing for the club since Saturday after completing a medical.
da bet esporte： He joins the Hoops on a four-year deal from Manchester City for a reported fee of £4.5m. It’s a significant spend from the club, just £1.5m shy of their record transfer fee. With that will come a bit of pressure on the 21-year-old’s shoulders with expectation high that he can make a big impact in the heart of the Hoops midfield.
Brendan Rodgers loves working with young players and moulding them into the finished article and Ntcham appears to have all the attributes to become a success at the club.
What makes this signing so exciting?
Here are THREE reasons why supporters should be looking forward to his future in Glasgow…
He isn’t just a fringe, inexperienced youngster
Olivier Ntcham may have not made a first-team appearance for Manchester City but that doesn’t mean he’s been stagnating in their reserves sides or in youth football. He’s been out on loan at Genoa for the last two seasons getting vital first-team experience in a very good league. The Italian club aren’t title contenders but they’re a sold mid-table side and are no joke.
Ntcham made 41 appearances for the club across his two seasons there, showing that he wasn’t just a bit part player.
Celtic need a player with a bit of experience to come in and be able to compete for first team places. The likes of Eboue Kouassi have shown that if you are too raw, Brendan Rodgers won’t just give you games for the sake of it.
This is a signing with a view to improving the first team and that should be exciting for Hoops fans in itself given that Rodgers’ main first-team signings so far have been hits, in the form of Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair.
He’s keeping some good players out of France’s U21 team
Olivier Ntcham is also apparently rated very highly by France’s international and youth coaches. He’s represented his country at every level below the senior side, a teammate of Moussa Dembele in the U21 set-up right now.
He competes with the likes of Wylan Cyprien, Morgan Sanson and Vincent Koziello in that U21 side, starting ahead of them occasion, which is an achievement in itself. All three of these players are coming off stellar seasons in Ligue 1 and hold plenty of big club potential themselves.
When yo think of some players that have come through that France youth team in recent years in his position like Paul Pogba and Corentin Tolisso, you start to get the picture that it’s an exceptional breeding ground for elite midfielders on the European scene.
Whether Ntcham realises that potential remains to be seen but the fact he’s in that kind of mix is certainly exciting for Celtic supporters.
His hybrid style suits Celtic perfectly
Olivier Ntcham’s preferred position is in a number ten playmaking role and that’s where Celtic have needed competition recently with only really Tom Rogic able to perform that kind of role naturally at the club and he is injury prone himself.
With the ability to shoot from range and roam across the attacking frontline, he may be the creative player Celtic have been looking for to consistently find a final defence-splitting pass.
For Genoa though he was deployed in a deeper role and so has picked up key defensive attributes that could see him perform a hybrid box-to-box role alongside Scott Brown.
It’s that versatility that seems so perfect for Celtic right now with a heavy schedule of European and domestic fixtures expected from this Friday until next May.
He could be the perfect all-round midfielder they’re crying out for.