Next Celtic manager: Bhoys now targeting London-born manager

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Celtic are now considering a move for AZ Alkmaar boss Pascal Jansen as they target a replacement for Ange Postecoglou.

AZ Alkmaar boss Pascal Jansen has become a target for Celtic as they weigh up appointing a new manager.

That is according to 90Min, who claim that Jansen is a name on Celtic’s wish list.

Celtic lost Ange Postecoglou on Tuesday morning as the Australian decided to join Tottenham Hotspur.

The Bhoys will take their time to find their new manager and Jansen could end up being their man.

It’s claimed that Celtic aren’t alone in the race for Jansen though as Ajax and PSV Eindhoven are interested too.

Ajax have parted ways with John Heitinga whilst Ruud van Nistelrooy has left his position as PSV boss.

Jansen is on the radars of both Dutch giants, meaning Celtic will have to pull out all the stops to score his services.

Who is Celtic target Pascal Jansen?

Jansen is Dutch but was actually born in London.

Father Hans Jansen is a Dutch musician and mother Sue Chaloner – a pop singer back in the day – is English.

It’s almost a surprise that Jansen ended up in football rather than going down the path of a musical career!

Jansen pursued football with AZ, Ajax, Haarlem and Telstar but never even made a senior appearance as he retired early due to injury.

The 50-year-old went straight into coaching, starting out in the youth ranks at Haarlem.

Jansen became the assistant manager at Al-Jazeera Club and Al-Wahda before moving back into academy management at Vitesse and Sparta Rotterdam.

Jansen moved up to become Sparta assistant manager but then moved to PSV as Under-19 and then Under-21 manager.

After leaving PSV in 2018, Jansen became Arne Slot’s assistant at AZ – and then landed the top job after Slot’s secret negotiations with Feyenoord.

It’s an interesting twist; Jansen is the former assistant of Slot, who Tottenham missed out on last month.

That meant Tottenham pivoted to Postecoglou, who could now be replaced by Jansen at Celtic.

Jansen has excelled as AZ boss, guiding the club into the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League before losing to West Ham United.

AZ secured a fourth-place finish under Jansen this season, just two points behind Ajax – and Jansen could now land himself a big move to Celtic this summer.