Southampton swerved Celtic FC transfer bullet - Russell Martin later saw it | OneFootball

Russell Martin managed both Swansea City and Southampton but the Saints dodged a bullet over a Celtic player and he later saw it...

Like any other Championship club, both Swansea City and Southampton have had their fair share of transfer blunders in their recent history.

Recruitment remains one of the most difficult aspects to get right in football, yet it is often the single biggest factor in shaping a club’s trajectory. A strong window can lay the foundations for promotion, while poor decisions can just as easily drag a side towards relegation trouble.

In the Championship, where margins are so fine and the pressure is constant, the stakes feel even higher. Clubs chasing the Premier League dream can still fall into the trap of rushing decisions, even if that impulsiveness is less widespread than it was a decade or two ago.

Coaches are important but getting recruitment right isn’t just important, it’s everything to a football club. Russell Martin knows that all too well from both stints at Southampton and Swansea City, too.

Swansea City's Olivier Ntcham showed Russell Martin why Southampton made the right decision

When Southampton were linked with a move for Olivier Ntcham in 2020, it carried a certain intrigue. At the time, Ntcham was on the books at Celtic, operating in a side that regularly competed for domestic honours and featured in European competition. On paper, it looked like a deal that could have added quality and top-level experience to Saints’ midfield.

But with the benefit of hindsight, it is a move they can be grateful never materialised. Ntcham’s reputation in Scotland was built on flashes rather than any kind of consistency. He was capable of producing moments of genuine quality, particularly from distance or in advanced midfield areas, but he nonetheless struggled to impose himself over the course of a full campaign.

That inconsistency raised legitimate questions about whether he could step up to the demands of the Premier League, where the physical and tactical requirements are significantly higher. Those concerns were later reinforced during his time in England, with Ntcham starting out in the second tier.

Ntcham would eventually arrive in the Championship with Swansea, initially on loan before making the move permanent under Russell Martin — a man who would, of course, later take charge at Southampton. It was, in many ways, the perfect audition for what he might have offered the Saints had that earlier transfer gone through.

Yet the verdict was underwhelming. While Martin’s Swansea side were built around control in possession and being assured in deep build-up — traits that should have suited Ntcham — he never truly cemented himself as a key figure of the team.

There were glimpses of ability, certainly, but they were too sporadic. He drifted in and out of games, struggled to maintain intensity, and often failed to influence proceedings in the way a top midfielder at that level must. The odd screamer or well-taken goal papered over many of those cracks.

In a league as relentless as the Championship, reliability is everything. Ntcham, however, remained a player who could look impressive one week and anonymous the next. That profile is perhaps manageable in a squad player, but it is not the foundation upon which a Premier League midfield is built.

From Southampton's perspective, that inconsistency would have been exposed even more starkly in the top flight. The Saints, at that time, required players capable of adapting quickly to different types of opponent, while also maintaining high physical output, and also executing ever-changing tactical instructions.

Russell Martin signed other Swansea City players for Southampton instead

Ntcham’s skill-set, while appealing in theory, did not align with those demands in practice. Russell Martin’s later experience with the player only underlines that point. Having worked closely with Ntcham, he would have gained a clear understanding of both his strengths and limitations.

It is difficult to imagine that experience leaving him convinced that Ntcham could operate effectively at Premier League level, particularly in a side looking to establish itself. Instead, Ntcham’s career trajectory has followed a different path in the years since then.

After his stint with Swansea came to an end, he moved away from British football, continuing his career elsewhere in Europe. He eventually joined Samsunspor in Turkey. It's a move that reflects a player settling into a level more aligned with his general level as a player but also his consistency, or lack thereof.

That is not to say Ntcham has lacked ability. Far from it. His technical qualities and eye for goal from midfield have always been evident. But football at the highest level demands far more than just isolated moments of brilliance, as it requires sustained excellence, week in and week out.

Southampton, it turns out, avoided a gamble that may not have paid off. And in Russell Martin, they had a manager who had already seen firsthand why. He went after some former Swansea players while at Southampton and it's no surprise that Ntcham was not one of them.