Former Celtic player Charlie Nicholas has recently tipped the Hoops to move for Xabi Alonso in an attempt to replace Neil Lennon.

While Celtic have an agreement in principle with Eddie Howe, the Englishman has made certain demands to the club. While talks are still ongoing with the former Bournemouth boss, Nicholas has urged the club to look elsewhere if they have doubts about Howe, as he believes that the Hoops should look to approach Alonso for the role.

Celtic will get an understanding of their stature with Alonso approach

Nicholas recently wrote a column for the Daily Express (via Daily Record) saying that there is nothing wrong in Celtic looking at other potential managerial targets since the appointment of Howe is taking some time.

He believes that the Hoops should be looking at Alonso and even his former Spain teammate Xavi, as that will give them an indication of their stature in the global game. He made it clear that the Hoops' international stature is bang average now and they are scared of walking away from Howe.

The former Celtic striker wrote: "If there is any doubt from the former Bournemouth manager then Celtic have to be strong enough to look elsewhere.

"There is nothing wrong with that. I said before that they should have looked at the likes of Xavi and Xabi Alonso, who appears likely to go to Borussia Monchengladbach.

"If they speak to these people, it would give Celtic more of an understanding of where they are as a club.

"They have a fabulous European history but their current standing in that arena is bang average now. Rangers have surpassed them.

"It is pretty obvious that Howe is their top target and it seems that the Celtic power brokers are scared of walking away from the talks."

Alonso might be an experiment for Celtic

While Alonso was initially inching closer to a Borussia Monchengladbach move, the Foals are now close to having Adi Hutter as their next manager, as he could arrive from Eintracht Frankfurt. This suggests that Alonso's proposed move to Gladbach could fall through.

The 39-year-old is currently in-charge of Real Sociedad B and he has a points-per-match tally of 1.8 so far. He took over in the summer of 2019 (as per Transfermarkt).

He has been known to use innovative tactics during his stint at Sociedad B. Considering that he played regularly in European football during his playing career, even winning the Champions League in 2005, he would add some European pedigree to the Celtic side. Therefore, Nicholas is right to suggest him as a viable alternative if things don't work out with Howe.

In other news,'It’s as simple as that' - Pundit suggests why Howe may have had second thoughts on Celtic job