Midfielder Ntcham has missed Celtic’s last four games.
Celtic have reportedly received a timely injury boost as French newspaper L’Equipe claim Olivier Ntcham will be overlooked by France’s Under-21 side as he continues his recovery from a hamstring problem.
Ntcham is a regular feature in Sylvain Ripoll’s Under-21 side but has missed Celtic’s last four games, including wins over Dundee, Hearts, RB Leipzig and Sunday’s draw to Livingston.
He has been suffering with a hamstring injury of late, which he picked up in the Scottish League Cup semi-final against Hearts. It saw the Frenchman replaced by Ryan Christie at half-time in the 3-0 win.
There had been hope from the French camp that Ntcham would be able to play for France’s Under-21 side in their upcoming matches against Spain and Croatia, but it appears those hopes have been dashed.
Indeed, L’Equipe report that Ntcham will not report to international duty with the squad meeting up on Monday in Clairefontaine. Instead, he will remain in Glasgow and continue to work on his recovery.
That will come as a major boost to Brendan Rodgers and Celtic, who are also without central midfielders Scott Brown and Kouassi Eboue – the latter suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury against Dundee.
Ntcham, a £4.5million signing from Manchester City in the summer of 2017 (BBC Sport), recently signed a new contract with the Scottish champions which will see him remain at Parkhead until 2022.
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