Celtic are not expected to hire former Tottenham transfer chief Steve Hitchen as Director of Football, according to journalist Dean Jones.

Manager Ange Postecoglou played down the prospect of such an appointment ahead of the game against Hearts on Saturday and Jones has confirmed that Hitchen is unlikely to be approached by the Scottish champions:

“This has been played down quite widely now so it sounds like it won’t happen but it could have been very interesting. I mean, I mainly know about him from his work at Tottenham and talking to people there a lot of people were really impressed by him and you can totally see why a club like Celtic might feel that they could benefit on the kind of context that he’s got in the game, but also the profile of players that he’s capable of bringing in.”

It must be said that Postecoglou has shown himself to be a very shrewd recruiter since arriving at Celtic last summer so it was surprising to hear reports that the club were considering appointing a new head of recruitment.

Under the Australian’s watch, the likes of Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Matt O’Riley have all come in and improved the Hoops’ starting eleven.

Postecoglou’s player knowledge has undoubtedly played a key role in Celtic’s transfer activity in addition to the scouts that were already in place within the club’s recruitment department.