West Brom are interested in signing Celtic attacking midfielder Olivier Ntcham before the summer transfer window, closes a report from Football Insider has claimed.
Since joining Celtic from Manchester City back in 2017, Ntcham has scored 23 goals and provided 13 assists in 132 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish champions, helping them win three consecutive Scottish trebles in that time, seemingly attracting attention from elsewhere.
According to the latest reports, the Baggies are now taking an interest in a move for Ntcham before the transfer window closes, although several other unnamed clubs from the Premier League and across Europe are also said to be keen on the 24-year-old.
It is thought that Celtic value Ntcham somewhere in the region of £12million, which could make things hard for West Brom given the limited budget they are working with in the current window.
But with two years remaining on Ntcham’s contract with the Scottish champions, Celtic are not under pressure to sell to the Midlands club this summer, particularly given that interest from elsewhere.
While Ntcham is unquestionably a very good player, you have to wonder whether he is a player West Brom should really be spending such a significant amount of their budget on this summer.
At this moment in time, it still seems as though a goalscorer has to be their priority target this summer, and Ntcham’s record does not really suggest that that is a role he can fill.
As a risk, it would be a risk to spend so much on the midfielder and risk not being able to add a striker as a result of that, meaning you feel the Baggies may be better off looking to spend those funds elsewhere this summer, in order to match the needs of Slaven Bilic’s current squad.
