West Ham United are in advanced talks to sign Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham, as reported by Foot Mercato.
What’s the story?
The Hammers may have confirmed that Tomas Soucek has joined them, but it seems that they are continuing their search for midfielders.
This comes with the report that they are in advanced negotiations with 23-year-old midfielder Ntcham, hoping that they will be able to take him from Celtic.
No fee is suggested within the report, but it is stated that they are also considering Pope Cheikh Diop, who is currently on loan at Celta Vigo from Lyon.
Watch West Ham United Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below
A risky signing
This can be seen as a risky signing for the Hammers, considering Ntcham has not been regularly making an impact for Celtic this term.
So far, he has made 12 SPFL starts and six substitute appearances, scoring two goals, while he has also made two starts and three substitute appearances in the Europa League.
He has been quiet defensively when on the pitch during the European competition, averaging just 0.6 tackles, 0.4 interceptions and 0.2 clearances, while committing 0.2 fouls per game.
Someone’s got to own them: Who do these incredibly unwanted PL records belong to?
His statistics on the ball are slightly more encouraging, but still far from breathtaking, as he makes 0.6 key passes and 1.2 key passes, while maintaining a pass success rate of 77.6%.
In addition to all of this, there have been question marks about his attitude, with Neil Lennon having openly said that he would speak to the Frenchman about this issue during the summer, with STV quoting him as saying:
“I will be speaking to him about his mindset and his attitude towards the club as well which, the way it came across, didn’t look good.”
With that in mind, there should, perhaps, be some question marks around whether making this move would be a wise decision from the Hammers.
Meanwhile, ExWHUemployee has identified West Ham’s three latest striker targets.