Roberto Mancini tells Celtic that he’d like to manage Hoops on one condition

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Roberto Mancini has enjoyed plenty of success as a manager, but should he become Celtic’s next boss?

Roberto Mancini

Roberto Mancini has suggested to The Sunday Post that he would like to become Celtic manager one day, as long as they are contending regularly in the Champions League.

The Hoops have enjoyed a brilliant season under Brendan Rodgers. They look to be well on course to secure the Scottish Premiership title – perhaps going through the whole domestic campaign unbeaten – have won the League Cup and have a Scottish Cup semi-final to look forward to, and reached the group-stages of the Champions League.

Their performance in Europe would perhaps be deemed to be the one negative from their season – predominantly because there have been so few contenders – as they failed to win a single group-stage clash amongst a pool that included Barcelona and Mancini’s former club Manchester City.

And the Italian has suggested that if they can become more of a force on the continent again, he would find it extremely difficult to turn them down.

“If Celtic were to build a team strong enough to regularly compete in the Champions League, I might decide to manage them one day,” he told The Sunday Post.

“For me, that is the next step for them, and one which I believe they are trying to take.

“Winning the league has become normal for them. They have the fans and the history. Now they have to strive to become an important player at the top level in Europe.”

While Rodgers has done a sensational job, and appears to still be taking them upwards, the idea that Mancini would be interested should excite Celtic fans.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers

The 52-year-old has won three Scudetto with Inter Milan and, of course, was in charge on that famous final day when Manchester City won the Premier League with virtually the last kick of the season in 2012.

While Mancini’s desire to manage Celtic should not disrupt Rodgers’ position at all, it highlights just how good a job the Northern Irishman has done that some of biggest names in Europe – who also have no prior link to the Scottish game – are considering Parkhead as a potentially attractive career move.