Staggering blow may hit Celtic as journo shares what he's heard from "a lot of people" - opinion

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou is attracting interest from Premier League side Manchester City.

That’s according to a claim made by Rory Smith, with the ever-reliable New York Times journalist revealing on BBC Radio 5 Live (via the Daily Mail) that the 56-year-old manager has a number of admirers at the Etihad Stadium.

Smith went on to state that, although it would be an unlikely scenario that the Greek-Australian coach goes on to take over from Pep Guardiola at the Premier League leaders, Postecoglou is extremely well regarded by City chiefs.

Regarding the Celtic manager’s future, the journalist said: “I’m not even sure it would be teams lower down in the Premier League [who would be interested in appointing Postecoglou].

“Ange Postecoglou is not going to get the Man City job, but there are a lot of people at City who really rate him. That actually says all you need to know about how well regarded he is within coaching circles. He worked for Yokohama Marinos which is the City Football Group team in the J-League.

“They think he’s really, really good. I’d be staggered if Pep left in the summer or next summer if they gave it to Postecoglou, but there are people there who will tell you he’s a really gifted manager. I’m not saying it’s impossible [that Postecoglou would replace Guardiola], but it would be surprising.”

While, as Smith states, it would be incredibly surprising if Manchester City were to appoint Postecoglou as Guardiola’s successor at the Etihad, the fact that the 56-year-old is already attracting admiration from the Premier League is certainly bad news for Celtic.

Granted, while it is undeniably good for the Hoops that the Greek-Australian coach has managed to turn the club’s fortunes around this season –