by
Veteran Melbourne sports host Andy Maher believes Aussie manager Ange Postecoglou will leave Celtic at the end of the season and “most likely” take a Premier League job with Leeds the front-runner.
The Aussie manager currently has Celtic nine points clear on top of the Scottish Premiership and on track for a second consecutive title.
Meanwhile Leeds are without a manager after the sacking of American Jesse Marsch and face the real threat of being relegated, sitting 19th with just 19 points – two points from safety – but with a reasonable goal difference of -11.
Watch the world’s best footballers every week with beIN SPORTS on Kayo. LIVE coverage from Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Carabao Cup, EFL & SPFL. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
FiveThirtyEight gives Leeds a 36 per cent chance of being sent back down to the Championship, believing Southampton, Bournemouth and Everton are more likely to go down.
The club is said to be in talks with former Watford and Valencia coach Javi Gracia, while local media reported Rafa Benitez has been considered, along with current caretaker Michael Skubala.
But if Leeds stay up they loom as a potential home for Postecoglou, according to Maher.
“I’ve got a snout who’s quite hooked into Australian soccer. He’s given me a steer here and there and on enough occasions he’s been right,” Maher said on SEN’s The Run Home.
“Gives me a call this morning adamant that this will be Ange Postecoglou’s last year at Celtic, and he will be leaving at the end of the year. And that he will be, it depends on survival in the Premier League, he will be taking one of two positions.
“But predominantly and most likely it will be the position at Leeds.
“Peter Lowy, son of Frank, bought into Leeds (in late 2021). One of his assistant coaches at Celtic is Harry Kewell, of course a celebrated Leeds player.
“Huge club, massive upside, struggling to hold onto their position in the Premier League. The temptation of being the manager to restore Leeds to Champions League-type contention and top-four, top-six status in the Premier League would be appealing to anyone.
“This snout is telling me, watch this space, at the end of the season – it’s going to happen.”
Postecoglou was previously linked to Everton, before they named Sean Dyche as replacement for Frank Lampard.
Maher reported the other club interested in Postecoglou, but probably not needing his services, was Nottingham Forest due to the “strong Greek connection” through owner Evangelos Marinakis – who also owns Olympiakos.
“But they’re going pretty well Nottingham Forest, Steve Cooper took over and got them out of the Championship into the Premier League, has done a good job,” Maher explained.
“It would be stiff on the bloke who’s done all this good work with Nottingham Forest to replace him, and maybe even a bit fraught with danger, so that looks less likely as a potential (move) for Ange Postecoglou.”
