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Lawwell must be tearing his hair out over Ntcham

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OPINION

Whether the fans like to admit it or not, Celtic are a selling club who rely on buying cheap and making money from future sales to help develop their squad.

You just need to look at the number of departures to England and abroad to see how effective their business plan has been to date, with the sale of Moussa Dembele to Olympique Lyonnais last summer helping cover the loss of Champions League football this season.

As such, it is up to the likes of club chief Peter Lawwell and the rest of the decision makers in Glasgow to determine what constitutes a good deal for the club and at what price they can be tempted to let their top performers leave for.

In the case of Olivier Ntcham, Lawwell must be tearing his hair out.

The Scottish Sun report that Porto, after two failed attempts to sign him up over the past 12 months, are going to reignite their pursuit for the 23-year-old this summer and that a bid is on its way to Parkhead.

However, having been looking to pay around £14million in January – a huge amount for Celtic to pick up for one of their players – it is stated that the offer this time around will be significantly less, understandable after the hit-and-miss season he has had.

Celtic need to sell before they can buy and as someone who is not necessarily a first choice in the side, Ntcham is definitely a candidate to leave the club for profit, just not as much as they could have made in January.

Their decision to keep him on board has backfired quite significantly and it looks as though Lawwell will have to find new ways to help fund the spending in the transfer window – in hindsight, he should have snapped off Porto’s hand.

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