The Hoops are understood to be keen on holding on to the former Chelsea chief scout but Congerton has signalled his intention to leave the club despite being considered as a potential candidate for the club’s new sporting director role, according to talkSPORT.

Formerly sporting director at Sunderland, Congerton played a central role in identifying key players during Brendan Rodgers’ reign at Parkhead.

He identified transfer targets such as Filip Benkovic, Odsonne Edouard, Olivier Ntcham and Timothy Weah, and was instrumental in convincing Ukraine international Maryan Shved to sign for Celtic despite bumper offers from other clubs.

Lee Congerton with Brendan Rodgers at Lennoxtown in August last year. Picture: SNS Group

The 45-year-old was appointed chief scout at Stamford Bridge by former Chelsea sporting director Frank Arnesen - and the Dane is said to be keen on reuniting with Congerton at Belgian side Anderlecht.

Clubs in Germany’s Bundesliga and Major League Soccer in the United States are also monitoring the situation while Congerton plots his next move.

Former Celtic boss Rodgers hailed Congerton’s scouting abilities on his arrival at Parkhead, revealing that the former Crewe Alexandra player had alerted him to Philippe Coutinho years before the Brazilian arrived at Liverpool.

“The reason I brought Lee Congerton [to Celtic] was because he’s one of the best at [scouting]. This is the guy who found me [Philippe] Coutinho.

“When I worked at Chelsea, Lee was away in South America, and he came back and told me about two players who were 14 or 15.

“He said: ‘Wow, there are two players out there we’ve got to try and get’. They were Coutinho and [Paris Saint-Germain forward] Neymar. At that point no one had heard of them.”

Congerton is also credited with bringing Heung-min Son to Hamburg; the South Korean international is now a key player for Tottenham Hotspur following his £22 million move to London from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015.

Lee Congerton set to quit Celtic head of recruitment role