Michael Owen has jumped to Oliver Ntcham’s defence and questioned Andre Villas-Boas’ career.
The Portuguese boss was sacked as Marseille manager yesterday, after offering his resignation over the signing of Ntcham.
The midfielder left Celtic for the south of France on loan on transfer deadline day, with the option there for the move to become permanent in the summer for £4.5million.
But in a sensational press conference, Villas-Boas admitted he expressly told the board he didn’t want to sign Ntcham from the Scottish Premiership champions, and offered to resign after he subsequently arrived anyway.
The former Tottneham and Chelsea boss was gone before the end of the day, which no doubt came as a relief to Ntcham after such a warm welcome.
His remarks have heaped pressure on the 24-year-old ahead of his debut, which could come against Lens in Ligue 1 this evening.
But he’s found a defender in an unusual place after Owen slaughtered Villas-Boas for his treatment of the new arrival.
The former Liverpool and Manchester United striker questioned how the former Porto boss kept getting hired by big clubs based on his track record, and slammed him for hanging Ntcham out to dry after signing for the club.
He tweeted: “Villas-Boas resigning at Marseille? I’m struggling to understand how he consistently gets such big jobs in the first place based on his managerial record but to belittle a young player in order to justify his reasons for departure seems a pretty low level to stoop.”
Ntcham being a self-confessed Paris-SG fan hasn;t helped the whole situation, with the capital club being big rivals of Marseille, who are the most supported club in France.
French media have described Ntcham’s potential debut as ‘Apocalypse OM’ after the storm of headlines his arrival has caused over the last 48 hours.
