Alan Brazil has next Celtic boss 'on good authority' as pundit's inside info gets Pep Guardiola having 'massive say'

Alan Brazil claims his inside information has given him a huge nod to the who will be the next manager of Celtic - and Pep Guardiola's opinion will be a major sounding board for majority shareholder Dermot Desmond.

The Parkhead powerbroker, according to the talkSPORT host, is very close with the Man City boss who has revolutionised football over stints as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City manager. It's his assistant, Enzo Maresca, who has been widely tipped as the man the Premiership champions are after to replace Tottenham-bound Ange Postecoglou, something Brazil has been informed of too.

Celtic connections with the City Group run deep, having picked up their previous manager from another affiliated club, Yokohama F. Marinos while a clutch of players in recent times have arrived from those cluster of clubs. Brazil said on his talkSPORT show Desmond will use Guardiola wisely in this process, but the club will also hunt his Man City assistant. The former Scotland international said: "I think I have a wee bit of, maybe a wee bit of inside information here.

"I don't want to put people on to putting a £5 on it. Do you know is going to have a big say and this is going to astonish you - Pep Guardiola. Pep, he will have a massive say as he and Dermot Desmond are very close.

"It's Enzo Maresca, I've got it, on good authority. I do know that Brendan Rodgers is odds-on favourite but it is interesting, Pep's associations with Dermot. Dermot is a very clever guy.