'Mad scientist' & 'next Luis Enrique' - who is Celtic-linked Wilfried Nancy?

Wilfried Nancy is one of the names to be strongly linked with Celtic

As speculation mounts about Celtic's next permanent manager, one name featuring prominently is Wilfried Nancy of Columbus Crew.

So, how did the relatively young, relatively unheralded Frenchman come to such prominence in the conversation around who will ultimately replace Brendan Rodgers?

BBC Scotland has been taking a look, with the help of the former United States striker Herculez Gomez, who has followed Nancy's rise for broadcaster ESPN in their coverage of Major League Soccer.

'Meteoric rise' for first black manager to win MLS title

One of the first things to impress onlookers, apart from Nancy's style of football, is the speed of his rise to prominence.

The 48-year-old landed his first managerial job in 2021, taking over from his friend and former boss Thierry Henry at CF Montreal. Not bad for a man who, just a few short years earlier, was coaching under-14 girls.

It appears Nancy is no stranger to a steep learning curve, as Gomez explains. "He has an idea of how he wants to play, it's very brave, it's very nuanced," said the American.

"It's very New Age, modern football, if you will, but in a crazy, mad scientist way. That's who he's been from day one, and it's really gone well. I say meteoric rise because 2021 is when he got his first professional stint as a manager, and since then, he's collected a few titles. Canadian Championship, MLS Leagues Cup, MLS Cup."

Born in Le Havre in 1977 to a father from Guadeloupe and a mother from West Africa, Nancy is already something of a trailblazer.

"He was the first black head coach in the history of Major League Soccer to win a title," Gomez explained.

"They'd never had a black coach lift the MLS Cup, and he did it with a certain type of brand, and I guess the best way to describe him is he's brave in his football.

"Speak to his players and they'll say the result is secondary. Secondary because he wants to implement the brand first, and the rest follows."

'No surprise' he's on Celtic's radar

Three things will have attracted Celtic's interest. Nancy is a proven winner, his teams play fast, attacking football and he already has a loose connection to the club since his assistant at Columbus Crew, Kwame Ampadu, worked with the Parkhead club's director of football operations, Paul Tisdale, at Exeter City.

Nancy could also be available straight away, as the Crew's season is over and Gomez isn't in the least bit surprised to see him linked to a big European club.

"He's had a few suitors chasing him over the years, in the English game pyramid and in France," he said. "Celtic is a massive club, a massive brand. Nowhere that he's been, Montreal or Columbus, has he had the wallet that he would have at Celtic.

"So, to pick and choose the elements you want may be beneficial to him, may suit his brand, but it's a culture shock. It's definitely a shock the way he wants to play.

"The first time I saw his team, I was a bit amused. The goalkeeper has to play high off his line, be good with his feet. The centre-backs have to be very good with the ball, often find themselves in advanced positions.

The wing-backs are very much like we saw in the Xabi Alonso Leverkusen years, where they're going to be prime attackers, and maybe goal scorers and facilitators.

"There's a lot of creativity, free flow. I'm not surprised that a team like Celtic is looking at him. If it's not Celtic, it'll be another team, that's for sure."

Comparisons with Champions League winner

WIlfried Nancy won with MLS Cup with Columbus Crew in 2023

After dropping in the name of Real Madrid boss Alonso, whose superb Bayer Leverkusen side became the first side to win the Bundesliga undefeated, Gomez isn't afraid to compare Nancy to another great of the current European coaching fraternity, Champions League-winning Paris St-Germain head coach Luis Enrique.

"Everybody's looking for the next big thing," he explained.

"If I could get somewhere close to his brand, it would be Luis Enrique's PSG. Enrique bases his philosophy off the interpretation of space, time and movement. There are no set positions.

"'Relacionismo', they say in Spanish. It's how you relate to a certain sector on the field and how you can advance and really consume your opponent in numbers. That's Wilfried Nancy.

"And there's a reason he's garnering attention. It's because his brand is so pleasing to the eye. It's catchy. It can also be a Catch-22 every once in a while, because you're playing on the edge. It's a double-sided sword, but certainly he's been on the better side of that sword.

"I see a lot of traits that could make him successful on a bigger stage, with more money, with more attention, He was MLS coach of the year last year but he didn't need the title to be regarded as one of the best. He's immensely respected.

"Certainly the philosophy of, 'this is who we are, this is how we're going to play, and we're not straying from it' is very much Luis Enrique."

Instant impact

One thing that could be music to the ears of the Celtic board and supporters is that Nancy, in Gomez's opinion, is comfortable with expectations of quick success. In other words, Nancy doesn't hang around when it comes to culture change.

"He makes things work relatively fast," Gomez said. "That's worth noting. Oftentimes, it takes coaches some time to implement an identity, a style.

"He's hit the ground running in two different places, whether it's Montreal, a team of lower resources, or Columbus Crew, a team that has been known to let go of the purse strings every once in a while and bring in some good talent.

"He's done well in different settings, so it's worth noting that when you get Wilfried Nancy, you get somebody who's used to making things happen fairly quickly."

What could Celtic fans expect?

If Nancy does get the gig in Glasgow, Gomez has a simple message for the Celtic diaspora: "Strap yourselves in."

"You're going to get a coach who has an identity and a way of playing that fans relate to, that fans feel proud of," he added.

"You're getting a coach who knows what he's doing, you're getting a coach who wants to express himself on the field and you're getting a winner.

"That's what Wilfried Nancy has been in his very short, meteoric rise. He's a winner."