Brendan’s encore as salesman to Ntcham
Boss had to sell the club to Frenchman a second time
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has told how he had to sell Olivier Ntcham on the club all over again following Moussa Dembele’s £19.7 million departure to Lyon.
The two Frenchmen are close, having been team-mates for their country through all age levels prior to teaming up together in Scotland.
Dembele played a leading role in persuading his friend to move north from Manchester City in the summer of 2017.
So, Rodgers admits, when the striker moved on in the summer, the temptation for Ntcham to do likewise was strong, with Porto and Marseille both hovering in the wings.
“There was interest in him, but it was given short shrift,” said the Hoops manager.
“You are always a wee bit worried that when someone like Dembele leaves, Ntcham – who is close to him – might think about leaving as well.
“Moussa was someone I spoke to during the process of bringing Oli here because he was able to sell to him everything that was happening at Celtic.
“So when he lost his mate, there might have been an initial bit of flatness, which is natural.
“We had to circle him back in to why he came here. Players want to come here to improve, feel pressure at a big club and win things.
“So you have to get back to those reasons why they are with us. They are still on a development pathway, so when the time does come to leave here, they’re ready to fly.”
It was a conversation which ended with the midfielder signing a new, improved deal with Celtic to run to 2022.
“Oli still felt there were improvements to make and it was great for the club to tie him down,” said Rodgers.
“Every individual player is different. They all have aspirations of their own in their minds regarding their career.
“They love it here, but some are on a journey. Some will want to go abroad – they don’t all want to play in the English Premier League.
“There are other top leagues that give them competition and pay them very well.
“You just try to talk through individual plans with each player, and benchmark that against their ambitions when they came in.”
Like Dembele, Liverpool’s £75m defender Virgil van Dijk, Victor Wanyama and Stuart Armstrong, midfielders with Tottenham and Southampton, are all examples of Celtic’s buycheap, sell-dear policy.
And when the time comes, Rodgers is confident Ntcham is another player who will generate significant revenue for the club.
“That’s the model for us,” he said.
“You bring a boy like that in knowing there is a lot of development in him at 19, 20 or 21. Going forward, you know there is value there.
“I looked at the player and saw the physical qualities he has. Oli had a technical idea that can be worked on and then you try to make him robust mentally.
“You know at some period in time that he’ll move on. But he has loved his time here.
“He has improved a lot, and he’s got valuable game time in his legs, as well as experience.
“His new deal is great news for him and for the club. You have to future-proof this type of player to make sure they are here – and at the same time you have the value of a top young talent.”
The Celtic boss, meanwhile, is eager for his side to set up an epic Celtic Park night against Salzburg in the final round of Europa League group fixtures by taking care of Rosenborg in Trondheim on Thursday night.
“The idea is to win the game, that’ll be our intent, to go over there and get a result,” he said.
“We’ll then go into the last game with it in our hands. That would be brilliant, but we first have to do the job in Norway.”