Southampton: Saints reportedly revive interest in French midfielder

Southampton have reportedly registered their interest in Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham once again as they look for a replacement for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

According to 90min.com, the Frenchman is valued at around £20m by the Hoops and Saints will have to beat West Ham and Everton to his signature.

Ntcham was linked with Saints before when it became clear that holding onto Hojbjerg was going to be very difficult for the club.

He is highly respected by Celtic fans as one of the most gifted players currently at Parkhead and could be a good addition for Saints given the key components that make up his game.

His performances since moving to Glasgow have shown an ability to dictate play and drive forward from midfield areas. The real test would be whether he could replicate this in the English Premier League where the levels of performance that are required are higher than in Scotland.

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His all-round game is good and he has a good amount of strength to win battles in the centre of the park. The fact that he has few standout attributes and is, instead, good at many things that his role requires could make him a good replacement for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg given that the Dane was similar.

Ntcham joined Celtic from Manchester City for around £4.5m back in 2017 and has gone on to rack up a very respectable 125 appearances in the three seasons since.

The 2020/21 Scottish Premier League season has already started and he has played in Celtic’s opening two games, albeit as a late substitute in both. A third fixture of the campaign was played on Tuesday night as Celtic took on Reykyavik in a Champions League qualifier and Ntcham again came off the bench.

This could signal that a move is on the horizon or that manager Neil Lennon prefers other options at this stage. As Saints well know, players who have their eyes set elsewhere can prove problematic if they remain heavily involved in matches.