As if the race to be the next Celtic manager wasn’t convoluted enough it would appear one of the bookies favourites Andre Villas Boas has opened the door to a move to Celtic after seemingly being ruled out just hours earlier.

The plot has thickened with regards to Celtic making a move for the former Chelsea and Spurs manager.

According to journalist Duncan Castles who hosts ‘The Transfer Window Podcast’ as cited on CelticStar a move for AVB is not out of the question and he has cleared up the earlier issues with quotes which appeared in the Scottish Sun.

Yesterday, it appeared that his ‘agent’ Jean-Paul Lares had ruled out a move to Scotland but Castles set the record straight on that particular issue.

“The person who’s been quoted and described as Villas-Boas’ agent is an individual called Jean-Paul Lares,” Castles said in his podcast.

“He isn’t Villas-Boas’ agent. He’s a press officer who works for the actual agent Carlos Gonçalves who is a very prominent operator in the Portuguese market with a high level of client.

“When you look at the actual quote of “André will not be working in Scotland in the foreseeable future and will not be available for comment.”, it’s one of those you get from a press officer looking to deflect attention away from the story because ‘foreseeable future’ can mean anything.

“I would ignore that. What’s important are the decisions Villas-Boas himself makes alongside his actual agent Carlos Gonçalves.”

So the quotes from Thursday are pretty much debunked as they’re certainly not coming from the horse’s mouth or even from someone who would be helping make that decision.

On Celtic’s move for AVB, Castles believes that it is within the realm of possibility and believes the club has been clever with their interest in the manager.

“It’s an interesting proposition and I think Celtic are being clever here looking at Villas-Boas who has taken a break from football but is ready to go back for the start of the season,” he said.

“He has strong links with Scotland having done his coaching qualifications with the SFA. He’s spent a lot of time in the country.

“And he’s also quite an unusual character in a sense that he’s always seen his career not being concentrated on the big leagues in Europe. He’s already coached in Russia with Zenit which is something he wanted to do. He’s had a spell in China and he has an ambition to coach in Brazil.

“Therefore I think there’s a chance because of this, and I think Celtic have been clever in asking the question: ‘would you consider coming and taking over at Celtic and using your European experience’?”

The journalist and podcaster goes even further and tells his listeners he believes there has been contact with a sounding out process taking place behind the scenes.

“I understand there has been contact and a sounding out but perhaps the fly in the ointment for Celtic is the breadth of Villas-Boas’ ambitions because one of the countries he’s like to work in is Japan and I think if he was presented with the opportunity to move to a J-League club, and there has already been some interest, he would favour that ahead of Celtic at this stage of his career.”

Neil Lennon sits as interim boss at this moment in time but will know the club are exploring every option available to them before a decision on his future is made.

It would appear the AVB link will not be going away any time soon.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.