West Ham could be key in Marseille’s attempts to sign Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham, according to the Daily Record.
A previous report by La Provence claimed that while the Ligue 1 side were keen on the 23-year-old, they would first need to offload some of their current squad before making an approach, in order to avoid falling foul of Financial Fair Play regulations.
The Daily Record now says that Marseille are waiting for the Hammers to bid for Morgan Sanson, and believe that a move for Ntcham could be financed once a suitable offer comes in for their current midfielder and his sale can be ratified.
The report adds that Marseille have turned their attentions to offloading Sanson due to several unsuccessful attempts to get rid of Kevin Strootman.
OPINION
If the report from La Provence about Marseille needing to offload players in order to finance a move for Ntcham looked like it had made any potential deal complicated, then this latest claim from the Daily Record has just thrown another spanner in the works. You would think Celtic would have hoped that the move could have just been agreed with Marseille, but it is proving to be a very difficult one to get over the line. The Record says that Sanson is rated at over £30million, which is a decent amount of money and perhaps more than West Ham would be willing to bid for the player. Therefore, this deal may take a while, or it could not happen at all. What will not change is the view from many Celtic fans that they want Ntcham out of the club following a poor season. Time will tell whether they get their wish.