Australia coach Graham Arnold backed Ange Postecoglou on Tuesday to “kill” the Tottenham Hotspur job and said his countryman was obsessed with getting to the top.
The 57-year-old Postecoglou is widely expected to leave Celtic and be named boss of Premier League Spurs, although there is yet to be an official announcement.
The move has been met with scepticism from a section of Spurs fans who wanted a higher-profile appointment than the Australian.
Arnold knows Postecoglou well, having worked with him at the Australian Under-20 side, and said: “Just working with him you could see the obsession of football, he had that mentality of where he wanted to go -- and that was to the top.
“He is totally obsessed with the game, it is his life.
“Ange has always been someone who is so determined to prove the doubters wrong.”
Arnold called Postecoglou a friend as well as a former rival in Australian football, and added: “Going to Tottenham is a great job for him and I think he will kill it.”
Arnold said that Postecoglou, who managed the Socceroos from 2013 to 2017 and has won league titles in three different countries, stood out because he was both a coach and a manager.
“A lot of managers are managers, they are not coaches as well, but he has that dual role of coach as well as manager.
“He knows man-management and how to motivate people.”
Parma defender Circati opts for Australia over Italy
Arnold also confirmed on Tuesday that, Parma defender Alessandro Circati will play international football for Australia rather than Italy and has been named in the Socceroos’ squad for a friendly against world champions Argentina in China next week.
Born in Fidenza, Italy, but raised in Western Australia’s state capital Perth, the 19-year-old centre-back has played for Serie B side Parma for more than a year and was called up to Italy’s under-20 squad last year.
“About two weeks ago he rang me up and he’s had a great time to think about his big decision for a young kid,” Arnold told reporters.
“And he said he wants to play for Australia. His heart has told him and he believes that he wants to play for Australia.
“His passion straightaway to come in (to the squad) was great.
“I said, ‘OK, if I put you in this camp, are you ready?’ And he said, ‘100 per cent’.”
Arnold also has his eye on another Italian-Australian teenager in Roma defender Cristian Volpato and France-based striker Mohamed Toure, who is eligible to play for Australia, Guinea or Liberia.
Arnold hoped to bring Sydney-born Volpato into Australia’s World Cup squad for last year’s finals in Qatar, but the 19-year-old declined the offer of a spot, saying he was not ready to make a decision.
Toure, born in a Guinea refugee camp to Liberian parents, was raised in Adelaide and played for A-League club Adelaide United before crossing to French club Reims last year.
Arnold said he planned to meet both players face-to-face in Europe in August.
Arnold said the Socceroos’ performance in Qatar, where they made the last 16 and won two matches at a World Cup for the first time, had made Australia a more appealing destination for young players with choice.
“What they saw at the World Cup has inspired (players) to make these decisions and that’s, I think, what happened with Alessandro,” he said.
Australia faces Argentina in Beijing on June 15.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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