NEIL Lennon last night made no attempt to hide his anger and disgust at Olivier Ntcham’s decision to go public about his desire to leave Celtic this summer.
The Frenchman, who has yet to join up with the Parkhead squad, spoke of his intention to quit the Scottish champions last weekend, believing he should be playing at a higher level and not in Scottish football which, according to the player, was not challenging enough for him.
Lennon’s Celtic side will this evening take on FK Sarajevo in the Bosnia and Herzegovina capital in the first qualifying match, he hopes, of eight which will end up with the club returning to the Champions League group stage after a year’s absence.
The Celtic manager would rather not have had to deal with Ntcham’s comments 24 hours before the season began for real, and made it clear that the midfielder, linked with a £15m move to Marseille, would not find it easy to walk straight back into the fold given what he has said.
“I will be speaking to Olivier,” Lennon confirmed. “We are not happy about his comments. As a club as a whole, and the other players, we are not happy with how he’s portrayed the club. We are not a stepping stone for anybody.
READ MORE: Neil Lennon hopes to replicate success of reaching group stage
“These things get lost in translation as such … but I am not convinced about that. I spoke to the players about it today. I am not happy and the club isn’t happy. I will speak to Olivier but he should be talking to us before coming out with comments like that.
“It doesn’t look good for him. For us, we sort of had half an idea he may be looking to move on, but that should be kept private and we will discuss it when he comes back. It’s not hard for me at all. It’s hard for him.”
A complaint of Ntcham’s was that a move to Porto fell through 12 months ago after the clubs could not agree a fee, but shortly after that he agreed a new four-year deal with Celtic that came with a significant wage increase.
When reminded of this, Lennon said: “It’s funny that, isn’t it? We hold all the cards here. As a manager, you don’t want to keep a player who isn’t happy, but this hasn’t been driven by us.
“It’s been done by the individual. We have already spoken to his representatives and will sit down with him.
“Is he angling for a way out? I think that’s pretty obvious, really.
“He’s still got a future, he’s still under contract, but I will be speaking to him about his mind-set and his attitude towards the club as well. The way it came across did not look good.”
Lennon has also had to deal with the constant speculation surrounding Kieran Tierney. There was nothing new to report with regards the 22-year-old, still in rehab after his double hernia operation in May, and the Celtic manager admitted he had no choice but to ignore what was being said outside of the club.
He said: “I have taken no notice of the headlines. I am well aware of where we are in terms of the situation.
“I spoke to Kieran in Austria but to be honest I have not really seen much of him because he came back for rehab. He’s not been on the training ground. It can be an unsettling period for a player and that is understandable.
“But until any club comes in with any kind of realistic valuation of our players we don’t have to do anything - and we won’t do anything.
“So, it’s as you were. Kieran is getting on with his rehab and we are getting on with what we have to do out here.”
Back to the actual football and new signing Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo will make his debut tonight against FK Sarajevo in Bosnia in the first-leg of the first qualifier of the Champions League.
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Celtic should have more than enough to get past this team but, as always, they will be good enough to cause problems for the Scottish champions.
Lennon admitted: “We could have had an easier draw. Sarajevo will be tough. The atmosphere will be intense and we will have to be prepared. Whether we are the favourites or not it will be dangerous tie for us.
“We are used to being favourites, particularly in domestic football but also sometimes in Europe as well. But we won’t take anything for granted. We will have the utmost respect for Sarajevo. They are the champions of their country. They are a team to be respected.”
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