Celtic coach Darren O’Dea is wanted by Championship side Ayr United after they parted ways with Jim Duffy earlier in the week, The Scottish Sun report.

The Lowdown: O’Dea’s promotion

After retiring as a player two years ago, O’Dea had been managing Celtic’s Under-18’s.

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The 34-year-old was given a promotion at Parkhead back in October, though, and is now a part of the Celtic B team working alongside manager Tommy McIntyre.

O’Dea recently labelled first-team manager Ange Postecoglou as ‘brilliant’ and works near the first-team at Lennoxtown, but it appears as if the Irishman is a wanted man ahead of the New Year.

The Latest: Ayr keen

The Scottish Sun’s Alan Potts shared a story on Monday afternoon, claiming Ayr are eyeing an ‘ambitious’ swoop for O’Dea after Duffy left the club following a short spell in charge.

Potts claimed that Ayr’s managing director Graeme Mathie is on the hunt for Duffy’s successor and it's understood that O'Dea is on their radar.

The Verdict: Time to jump ship?

You’d expect that O’Dea has aspirations of managing at first-team level after Under-18 spells with Motherwell and now Celtic, so he may well jump at the chance to join the Championship side.

However, it would be a risk with Ayr struggling in the second tier and just three wins from 18.

Saying that, O’Dea will have seen that former Hoops man Shaun Maloney has recently jumped into management with Hibernian, so he could see Ayr as a step on the ladder when it comes to making his mark from the dugout.

In other news: 'A lot of clubs' tracking 'unbelievable' Celtic ace ahead of January, says BBC Radio 5 Live man.