The agent of Andre Villas-Boas has rubbished links between the 41-year-old and Celtic after he was linked with the job at Parkhead.
Jean-Paul Lares kept his statement brief and was quoted in the Scottish Sun as saying, “Andre will not be working in Scotland in the foreseeable future and will not be available for comment.”
Villas-Boas entered the frame for the job this week and was installed as one of the frontrunners by leading bookies.
Roberto Martinez’s agent also ruled the Belgium manager out of the running on Thursday.
OPINION
So that’s two front-runners out of the running, and that just leaves the bookies with Neil Lennon. We’re sure that other names will come into the frame before the season is out – manager markets are more prone to wild speculation than any other. Villas-Boas was being talked about this week and he was free to take the job after being on sabbatical since leaving Shanghai SIPG in 2017. However, the statement from his agent couldn’t be any clearer, and that’s another big name who won’t be taking the job from Lennon. Celtic are in a good position, in that all the talk about a new manager shouldn’t get in the way of another Premiership title – they’re 11 points clear at the top of the table. Lennon just has to focus on winning that at a canter and keeping the points gap between them Celtic and Rangers as close to last season as possible. It was 12 points last campaign and Rangers finished third. The Scottish Cup is the one area of uncertainty. Celtic face Aberdeen in the semi-final and it won’t be easy. If Lennon doesn’t deliver that, questions might be asked about whether he’s the man to take them forward.