Ange Postecoglou's name has been thrown into the ring as a possible "wildcard" to become Aston Villa's new manager. 

The former Socceroos coach is in his first season with Scottish giants Celtic and he has yielded some positive early results with the club undefeated across their past eight matches. 

Postecoglou's appointment at the Hoops was greeted by some scepticism early on but the Australian has won many fans over as his side play some brilliant attacking football. 

Premier League club Aston Villa haven't been so impressive this season and sacked manager Dean Smith over the weekend after a sixth straight loss. 

Smith is the fifth coach sacked by a top-flight club in England this season and will take some replacing after over three years at the helm. 

Early reports have suggested the club could be looking at trying to bring in Belgium boss Roberto Martinez, Brighton manager Graham Potter or Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard. 

Gerrard has become an early favourite for the Villa job after impressing in Scotland with Rangers, but former Premier League striker Michael Bridges believes the club should also be looking at another manager in Scotland. 

Bridges, who relocated to Australia in 2009, has kept a close eye on Postecoglou's progression as a coach and brought his name up when asked who he views as a candidate to take over at Aston Villa. 

"I'm gonna throw one in here for you. I'm gonna throw in a guy I tried to get at Sunderland Football Club," Bridges said via Optus Sport. 

"If you watched the Sunderland Til I Die documentary on Netflix, Martin Bain was in charge, and he asked me about a guy called Ange Postecoglou. 

"He said he'd never heard of him. I gave this guy massive wraps for what he did over in Australia. What he did for the national team, for the Socceroos.

"And Celtic have gone and got their man and he's won the fans over after everybody going, 'Who is this guy? What's he all about?'

"That is a guy that can sort this type of stuff out. He's the type of guy that can be a massive, massive wildcard and I'm just gonna put it out there just so everybody knows about this guy and how good he is on and off the field.

"What he's had to go through to handle all the managerial scrutiny from all the press up in Scotland - he's handled it absolutely brilliantly." 

Postecoglou was only handed an initial one-year deal when he joined Celtic in June this year with no contract extension offered as yet. 

https://www.sportingnews.com/au/football/news/celtic-manager-ange-postecoglou-backed-for-possible-premier-league-move-with-aston-villa/iuil6nhl5yw615c2m1euotpv9