Celtic’s reported £13m Olivier Ntcham decision looks inspired now

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Scottish Premiership champions Celtic reportedly turned down an offer from Primeira Liga giants Porto in 2018.

What does £13 million get you in today’s transfer market? As club chairmen all over the land will tell you, not a lot. Perhaps a half-decent Championship striker if you’re lucky, or a bright-eyed teen with barely a handful of senior appearances to his name.

So Celtic were well within their rights to reject a £13 million offer from Porto for Olivier Ntcham last year.

According to Goal, that is how much Porto were willing to offer for the one-time Manchester City midfielder after his impressive debut season in Scottish football. Celtic, if they had said yes, would be taking home a £9 million profit.

But with The Hoops demanding more than double that fee when Lyon came calling for Moussa Dembele, Celtic were never going to let another of their star players leave for a fee that, in this day and age, really doesn’t add a fortune to your coffers.

According to Goal, Ntcham’s France U21 midfield partner Jeff Reine-Adelaide swapped Angers for Lyon in a £23 million deal this summer. And while Reine-Adelaide has made his name in a more competitive division, he isn’t a serial winner like Ntcham, who has lifted six trophies in two years in Glasgow.

Ntcham has featured regularly in Europe in that time too and, at just 23 years of age, he has plenty of time to fulfil the potential that once encouraged Brendan Rodgers to predict that he could wind up dominating the centre of the park for Barcelona or Bayern Munich (Daily Record).

Ntcham might have looked a shadow of his former self last season, clearly distracted by the speculation surrounding his future, but the Frenchman looks focused and formidable once again. You only need to ask Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall, who was on the wrong end of two long-range stunners on Wednesday night, about the quality he possesses.

£13 million? If Porto are to return, they should be putting at least another £10 million on the table. Another domestic clean sweep and a return to the form that once made him Scotland’s best midfielder, Ntcham’s price-tag could soar with another season at Celtic under his belt.