Republic of Ireland skipper John O'Shea believes his former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane will be the new manager of Celtic.

Keane is currently part of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill's coaching staff, and the latter revealed Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond had been in touch regarding the vacancy.

O'Neill insists the 42-year-old would be a big loss to the national team should Celtic appoint Keane, and Sunderland defender O'Shea agrees.

"It looks very much like it now. Slowly but surely, it has snowballed into having talks with Celtic, so I would be very surprised if it doesn't get across the line," O'Shea said.

"If it does happen, it's one of the clubs around the world that was going to entice him back into management and away from his current job.

"It's something I'm sure he would really, really enjoy and look forward to. He'll relish the challenge of managing a fantastic club like Celtic. But let's wait and see if it does happen.

"As the manager said, we would be very disappointed because we know what a fantastic character he is to have fighting for us on our side going into matches."

Keane will travel to London with the Ireland squad for Saturday's friendly with Italy at Craven Cottage as Ireland continue their preparations for the start of the European Championship qualifiers in September.

And O'Shea clarified the former Ireland captain has not said anything to the squad regarding his future.

O'Shea said: "No, no, no. Obviously the lads have been trying to get a few hints here and there, but he's kept a good poker face."