John Hughes believes Ange Postecoglou will "100 per cent" be at Celtic next season despite recent speculation linking the Aussie with Spurs.
Postecoglou is reportedly Tottenham's No1 target after Feyenoord boss Arne Slot committed his long-term future to the Eredivisie club before he signed a new deal on Friday.
The Celtic manager is now the bookies' favourite for the position, but Hughes reckons he will fancy another crack in Glasgow next term.
He told BBC Scotland: "Will he be there next year? 100 per cent. I think he wants the challenge of Rangers and I think he knows there's going to be a bigger challenge from Rangers and Michael Beale.
"I think he's like that, 'bring it on, bring it on. I'll take up that challenge.'"
Meanwhile,
Postecoglou has stressed they have to be at their “absolute best” against Inverness in Saturday’s Scottish Cup final after hearing about the history between the clubs in the competition.
Caley Thistle have knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup three times in seven meetings this century and the Hoops needed to come from behind in two of their triumphs.
Inverness beat Celtic 3-1 at Parkhead as a First Division club in the first encounter between the teams in February 2000 in a result that cost John Barnes his job as manager.
They also beat Martin O’Neill’s side in 2003 four days after the Hoops had won at Anfield on their way to the UEFA Cup final.
Ronny Deila also fell foul of Caley Thistle in the 2015 semi-finals in a result that cost Celtic the chance of a treble.
When told some people were predicting a walkover when the Scottish champions face a side who finished fifth in the cinch Championship, Postecoglou told Celtic TV: “The people at this club don’t tell me about that, they tell me about the past results against them, which makes you realise that if you are not on it on the day you can be beaten and there’s consequences to that.
“I can assure you that no-one in the building here is going into it with anything other than the approach that we have to be at our absolute best on the day.”
