Mark Devlin 
Paolo Rattini/Getty Images Sport
Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies is hopeful that new signing Olivier Ntcham will be fit to play some sort of role in this Saturday’s friendly match at home to Lyon.
The 21-year-old midfielder arrived at the Scottish champions from Manchester City on Wednesday, and has since spoken about his delight at finally signing.
Brendan Rodgers’ side are in Belfast for their Champions League second round qualifying tie against Linfield tomorrow, though Ntcham did not travel with the rest of the squad due to his lack of match fitness.
Quoted by the club’s official website, Davies spoke of Ntcham’s situation and also gave an update on how he is settling in:
Olivier will stay behind and hopefully get some game-time against Lyon at the weekend.
He has been training a few days and he will be involved in the game at the weekend. We will see how he goes. He has to be at a good level before he comes into competitive games but he shouldn’t be too long.
He knows Moussa so that personal connection is there already. He’s someone who has been at Manchester City for a few years so he understands the culture and it’s not new to him.
He’s a really nice, genuine guy and he as a lot of qualities as a player and a lot of qualities he can bring to our team. We are delighted to have him.
The Hoops are in competitive action for the first time since their dramatic Scottish Cup win over Aberdeen in May.
A win over Linfield would mean they go into the return leg at Celtic Park with a strong claim to progress to the third qualifying round.
