Former Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez is just one manager who has been linked with the vacant Celtic managerial post in recent weeks.

Former Premier League striker Marlon Harewood has given the Hoops the green light over a potential deal for the Spaniard.

Benitez, 60, left Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Professional back in January and remains out of work despite, being offered to return to Italian side Napoli.

The Spaniard has led 12 different senior sides throughout his career, averaging a two-year period at each club.

Speaking of the possibility of seeing Benitez in the Parkhead dugout, Harewood, talking to Football FanCast, said:

"It’d be good if they can get him. Wow, that’d be a massive appointment for them. Obviously, it’s hard when you talk about [Scottish] football [to ignore] Celtic. Everyone looks forward to the Celtic-Rangers games."

However, the former forward did have his concerns if Benitez would make the move to Glasgow.

"It’s hard to get a manager to go up there and be excited, so they obviously have to get a package together for him to go up there."

Transfer Tavern take

Benitez was reportedly on a $15.83m (£11.4m) salary at Dalian Professional, with some believing his departure from the club was related to a pending decrease in that number.

Former Hoops boss Neil Lennon’s base salary was thought to be around £2.4m, so, financially, a deal for Benitez looks extremely unlikely.

Celtic also announced a pre-tax loss of almost £6m just last month, so they may not have the cash needed to hand Benitez to lead a Parkhead rebuild.

It remains to be seen who will be the next Hoops boss, but from the outside looking in, we don’t think it will be Benitez.

In other news: Could Celtic have another suitor for Edouard?