Craig Bellamy has revealed Anderlecht boss Vincent Kompany wanted to recruit Ange Postecoglou while he was in charge of Yokohama F.Marinos.
But Celtic swooped first for the Australian despite Kompany's admiring glances.
Bellamy was a teammate of Kompany's at Manchester City and spent two years as his assistant in Belgium after he took the Anderlecht job.
In that time Bellamy's admiration for the Belgian only grew with his "forward-thinking" methods catching his eye.
Speaking to The Central Club on Youtube, Bellamy says Kompany makes a point of being aware of everything that's happening in world football.
And Postecoglou came up on his radar while in charge of Marinos, where he honed a reputation for his relentless attacking football.
But the Premiership side moved first and he has them sitting top of the division after 26 games.
Bellamy, who spent time on loan at Parkhead from Newcastle in 2005, said: "Vinnie was just so different to anything I've ever come across. His stature, everything about him.
"When he walks into a room, you know he's walked into a room. He has a real presence about him.
"He can switch up languages. He'll be talking in Dutch one minute then he'll be talking in French.
"He's so forward-thinking and he wants to know everything. He's wondering what's going on here, what's going on in Japan there.
"They've got this coach there (Postecoglou), look at what he's doing here. He ended up going to Celtic.
"He wanted to bring him in with us. He's ahead of the game."
