So, another fantasy candidate – Villa Boas – has dropped out of the running today.
As I said in the previous piece, these are all names who were on the fan’s wish-list; there is no proof that the club itself was remotely interested in any of them. Benitez hasn’t knocked back the idea yet, but few really expect Celtic to move for him anyway.
This eliminates all the fantasy candidates but one, and Mourinho is so far outside of reality that I dismiss it without even having to do a piece on it. He might not be able to command a job offer from a title challenger in the big five leagues anymore (actually, big three of Italy, Spain and England) but there is enough cash sloshing around the game that somebody, somewhere, will throw a fortune at him and get him to sign a contract.
Martinez would have been my number one pick, even accounting for some of the other names.
Whilst the statement from his agent doesn’t rule it as some have erroneously reported, there is little doubt that he will plenty of offers when he does want to try his hand again at club football. The guy number two on my list would have been Rose; he’s been snapped up by the Bundesliga.
It is hardly a surprise.
Those two were realistic targets, but who else is?
In my piece earlier, I talked up Michel Preud’homme; he is on the B list, but the B list still has impressive names on it, if our club is ambitious enough to try for them.
There are four who interest me, and one of them will be a bit of a bolt from the blue.
