Celtic were last night on the verge of reaching agreement with Tony Mowbray to become the club’s new manager, 13 days after the resignation of Gordon Strachan.

The Scottish club hope to unveil the West Bromwich Albion manager as their new man in charge at a press conference within the next 48 hours.

Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, has been involved in an exhaustive and sometimes fruitless quest over the past two weeks in trying to tie down Strachan’s successor.

Owen Coyle was originally lined up for the job, although many within Celtic Park have said that Mowbray was the club’s No 1 target all along.

Despite official denials from the club last week, Lawwell had already established contact with Mowbray, who was a Celtic player from 1991 to 1995 and knows the Scottish scene from his time as manager of Hibernian, from 2004 to 2006.

Compensation will remain an issue to be settled between Celtic and West Brom, who have just been relegated from the Barclays Premier League. It is believed that Celtic will pay the Midlands club at least £1.5 million for the release of their manager. Mowbray is expected to hand in his resignation at West Brom over the weekend.

If the deal is clinched over the next 48 hours, the vast Celtic support will be preening themselves at the news. On top of the wide respect Mowbray has built up in England, his Hibernian team played a stylish brand of football under him, including putting Rangers and Celtic to the sword. Celtic will regard it as a coup in landing their pre-eminent target.

News of Mowbray’s impending arrival is also a welcome break for Lawwell, who had been under increasing pressure from an agitated Celtic support and Scottish media to deliver his target. Celtic are in the middle of arranging their pre-season schedule, after which the club will face two stiff Champions League qualifiers at the end of July and beginning of August.

West Ham United are among the clubs to have expressed an interest in Luis Jiménez, who has been frustrated by a lack of appearances with Inter Milan.

Jiménez, who was plagued by injuries last season, is also wanted by Parma and Fiorentina. “I need the trust of a manager to play with continuity and I cannot allow myself another year like this,” he said.

Manchester City are monitoring Matthew Upson’s contractual developments. The West Ham defender has been in talks to extend his deal beyond the two years he has left but no agreement has been reached.

Middlesbrough are resigned to the departures of Ross Turnbull and Stewart Downing. Keith Lamb, the chief executive, said that Downing could leave when he recovers from a foot injury.

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