Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou appears to be moving towards a swift resolution of his future amid reports he has verbally agreed to become Tottenham’s new manager.
Postecoglou admitted on Saturday that his ability to enjoy Celtic’s treble success would soon be disrupted by some decision-making and that seems to have happened even quicker than he anticipated.
The 57-year-old dodged questions on his future before and after Saturday’s Scottish Cup final win over Inverness having emerged as the overwhelming frontrunner to take over at Spurs.
Neither club are commenting publicly but reports claim Postecoglou told Celtic principal shareholder Dermot Desmond on Saturday night that he intended to leave for London and he is now said to be closing in on signing a two-year Spurs deal with the option to extend.
When repeatedly pressed on his future after Celtic’s 3-1 Hampden win over Inverness on Saturday, the Greek-born Australian said: “I anticipate enjoying this moment for the next 24-48 hours, as long as I can, before someone drags me away and takes my attention away from enjoying something that’s been hard-earned.
“The reality is, there’s probably players in that dressing room who won’t be here next year. That’s the nature of football.
“But I want them to enjoy it, I am going to enjoy it, and that’s all I am going to focus on until someone grabs me by the collar and tells me that I have to answer certain questions.”
The former Australia head coach has won five domestic trophies out of a possible six after arriving from Yokohama F Marinos in Japan and was linked with numerous Premier League clubs throughout this season.
Postecoglou became a hero with the Celtic support, not just for resuming their success after a barren season, but also for implementing an attacking style of play and his connection with the fans.
But he looks set to swap Glasgow for another rebuild job as Spurs finally look to appoint a permanent successor to Antonio Conte, who departed on March 26.
Postecoglou is due to go on a family holiday on Tuesday and a deal could be finalised quickly.
Former Hoops manager Brendan Rodgers has emerged as an unlikely favourite to succeed Postecoglou, four years after leaving the club mid-season to take over at Leicester.
Assistant manager John Kennedy is also high up the list but reports claim Postecoglou hopes to take the former Celtic defender to Tottenham.
Football rumours: Ivan Toney can leave Brentford if the price is right
Brentford would be willing to let England striker Ivan Toney leave the club if their £60million valuation is met, the Sunday Mirror reports.
The same paper also states that Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham are monitoring Paris St Germain winger Ousmane Dembele, despite the France international moving from Barcelona to Ligue 1 in the summer.
The Sunday Express reports that Delle Alli is still attracting significant interest, with Everton attempting to renegotiate terms for the 27-year-old former England midfielder’s transfer from Tottenham.
Social media round-upPlayers to watchAaron Ramsdale: The Arsenal and England goalkeeper is attracting interest from Chelsea and Bayern Munich but is in no rush to leave the Gunners.
Jota: The former Celtic forward may be reunited with Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham, despite only joining Al-Ittihad this summer.
Naparima, Fatima and San Juan North maintain 100 per cent win records in SSFL
Naparima, Fatima and San Juan North maintained their unblemished records following the fourth round of matches in Trinidad and Tobago’s Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) on Saturday.
Naparima College produced the most impressive victory of the unbeaten schools with a 7-0 thrashing of East Mucurapo Secondary. The result means they sit atop the 15-team league table with 12 points but enjoy a far-superior goal difference over Fatima College, who blanked Pleasantville Secondary 5-0.
San Juan North Secondary had a tougher time of it as they edged Queens Royal College 2-1 and lie third in the standings.
Meanwhile, Presentation College picked up their second win of the season with an impressive 3-0 victory over Chaquanas North Secondary. The three points earned from the win sees them fourth in the standings with seven points, one more than fifth-place Malick Secondary, who lost 1-2 to Speyside High School, who also have six points but are seventh on goal difference.
Also on six points but are sixth in the standings are Arima North Secondary who battled St Benedict’s College to a 1-1 stalemate.
St Anthony’s College defeated St Mary’s College 3-0 for their second win of the season in the other fixture played on Saturday.
Alvaro Morata brace inspires Atletico Madrid to victory over rivals Real Madrid
Alvaro Morata struck with two headers as Atletico Madrid clinched a rare LaLiga win over arch-rivals Real Madrid, winning 3-1 at the Metropolitano Stadium.
Morata and Antoine Griezmann gave Atletico a 2-0 lead inside 18 minutes and after Toni Kroos reduced the deficit before the break, Spain captain Morata headed his second against his former club a minute after the restart.
Atletico, who had won only one of their previous 14 league meetings against their rivals, halted Real’s five-game winning start to the league season.
Villarreal’s former Liverpool defender Alberto Moreno was sent off as his side drew 1-1 at Rayo Vallecano.
Kike Perez equalised for Vallecano a minute after Alexander Sorloth had fired Villarreal into a first-half lead and Moreno was shown his second yellow card in the 77th minute.
Real Sociedad sealed their second league win of the season in a seven-goal thriller at home against Getafe.
The visitors led 2-1 at half-time through Carles Alena’s header and Borja Mayoral’s penalty after Takefusa Kubo had given Sociedad an early lead.
Mikel Oyarzabal’s second-half double – his first coming from the penalty spot – sandwiched Brais Mendez’s effort to put the home side 4-2 up before Juan Latasa headed a late third for Getafe.
Guido Rodriguez’s second-half equaliser earned Real Betis a 1-1 home draw against Cadiz, who had led at half-time through Chris Ramos.
Las Palmas overcame the second-half dismissal of Mika Marmol to secure their first win of the season, 1-0 at home against second-bottom Granada, thanks to Kirian Rodriguez’s stoppage-time goal.
Italy midfielder Federico Dimarco’s first goal of the season clinched Inter Milan a 1-0 win at bottom club Empoli and kept them top of Serie A.
Dimarco struck early in the second half as Inter extended their 100 per cent league record this season to five matches.
Reigning champions Napoli were held 0-0 at Bologna and are now seven points behind Inter.
Fiorentina kept pace with the top four as goals from Lucas Martinez Quarta and Giacomo Bonaventura secured them a 2-0 victory at winless Udinese.
Atalanta, a point behind Fiorentina, won 2-0 at home against second-bottom Cagliari, with former Everton winger Ademola Lookman and Mario Pasalic both on target.
Duvan Zapata’s late header rescued a 1-1 draw for Torino at Roma, who had led through Romelu Lukaku’s second-half goal.
In the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen are level on points with leaders Bayern Munich after beating newly-promoted Heidenheim 4-1 at BayArena.
Victor Boniface’s early opener for Leverkusen was cancelled out by Eren Dinkci in the second half, but Jonas Hofmann put the home side back in front and after Boniface had converted a penalty, Amine Adli completed the scoring.
Eintracht Frankfurt and Freiburg sit eighth and ninth respectively after drawing 0-0 at Deutsche Bank Park.
Paris St Germain climbed to within two points of surprise early Ligue 1 leaders Brest by thrashing Marseille 4-0 at Parc des Princes.
Goncalo Ramos notched a second-half double after first-half efforts from Achraf Hakimi and Randal Kolo Muani.
Strasbourg and Le Havre are among the early pace-setters after winning 1-0 at Metz and 2-1 at home against rock-bottom Clermont respectively.
Teenager Habib Diarra fired Strasbourg’s winner as they notched their third league win of the season, while Nabil Alioui and Mohamed Bayo put Le Havre 2-0 up inside seven minutes before Cheick Konate replied for Clermont.
Lens registered their first win of the season in all competitions, 2-1 at home against Toulouse, thanks to Morgan Guilavogui’s late strike, while Rennes were held 0-0 at Montpellier.
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