NO SAFE TRIPS FOR WILFRIED AMID RISE

WILFRIED NANCY looks set to pack his bags and travel across the world into the unknown.

- BY MICHAEL GANNON

And, while it won't be the first time for the Frenchman, at least he knows there will be a job waiting for him at the other end on this occasion.

The 48-year-old is close to sealing a deal to take charge of Celtic and could be in the dugout for Saturday night's Premiership clash at St Mirren.

If the move is rubber-stamped, it will be the next stage of a remarkable journey back-and-forth across the ‘Atlantic since Nancy was a kid.

He has become one of the hottest coaches in the MLS in recent times on the back of his work at CF Montreal and Columbus Crew, and it’s taken him to the top of the Hoops’ wish list.

Yet the path has been far from straightforward.

This is a guy who was a top prospect as a teenage defender but ended up shuffling around the lower leagues in France as a senior, skirting the heights of the second tier before drifting down the divisions to the semipro ranks.

But it was a fortnight’s holiday in North America that set him off in a different direction.

Nancy pitched up Stateside with little more than a backpack of belongings - but had a gut feeling to stick around.

Speaking on the Men in Blazers global football podcast last year, Nancy said: “I'm laughing, because there’s a word I like to use - serendipity.

“I could have stayed in France, having a nice life with friends, at my house, doing some coaching.

“But, again, from my parents, because I travelled a lot, I knew one day I try to live overseas, to discover new things.

“At this time my sister and my mother were living in New York, so my plan was to go to New York.