THE preparations are already under way at Parkhead as the Premiership champions prepare for a summer of serious overhaul at the club.

With a few first-team players' loans expiring, key men expected to move on, chief executive Peter Lawwell retiring and with a change in management a distinct possibility as Celtic's title tilt has withered, the heirarchy in Glasgow's east end are in for a busy few months.

Scottish Rugby CEO Dominic McKay has already been announced as Lawwell's successor at Celtic Park, and it's expected that the club's management structure will be reinvented - with the new position of sporting director set to be implemented.

Whoever takes up that role will have a huge say in the team's transfer business and will negotiate deals to bring players in and ship them out, as well as influencing the scouting department.

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According to the Daily Mail, former Bournemouth and Huddersfield recruitment chief David Webb has thrown his hat into the ring, while Manchester City's Loan and Pathways manager Fergal Harkin - who the Celtic board have dealt with many times in the past - is also believed to be a candidate for the position.

But the Hoops could make an ambitous move for Juventus first-team scout Matteo Tognozzi, who has recently emerged as a potential frontrunner for the newly-created role.

Here's everything you need to know about Tognozzi.

How did he end up at Juventus?

Tognozzi's route to the top of European football has been something of an oddyssey around the continent but it's perhaps no suprise to learn that his career kicked off in Italy's lower leagues.

Working as sporting director, Tognozzi was first hired in 2007 by Pontedera, a regional side based in Tuscany, and spent three years there before joining Rosignano (currently in Italy's fifth tier) in the same capacity.

He would only stay there for six months, though, before being recruited by Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg in 2011 where he worked as an international football scout for three-and-a-half years.

Glasgow Times:

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A move to Hamburg in the summer of 2014 followed where he again worked in a scouting capacity and a year later, he was snapped up by Bayer Leverkusen.

Tognozzi spent two years at the Bundesliga side before sealing a return to his homeland at Juventus in 2017. Initially, Tognozzi was the Old Lady's foreign countries scouting supervisor but within a year, he was promoted to scouting manager - a position he holds until this day.