One of the biggest questions for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers to address during the summer transfer window is our over all squad balance, and obviously with the announcement of former England international goalkeeper Joe Hart’s retirement, a new number one factors highly into our plans for the next few months.
There have certainly already been a number of somewhat interesting links to a varying number of stoppers on the speculation rumour mill, but the biggest question for the Parkhead faithful is whether or not Rodgers will look to the future with his decision and go for a slightly younger keeper that we can very easily get five to eight years from, or whether we will again go for a veteran like Hart, who on paper is less of a performance risk if you bet on Celtic at Lottoland Sports Betting, but means we are back to the very same question in another three odd seasons.
With most also expecting Scott Bain and Benjamin Siegrist (as the news has indicated the last six months) to depart this summer as they both search for greater game time for themselves, it gives Rodgers another question if he does have to effectively rebuild the entire first team goalkeeping department this summer.
If he does ultimately need to do that, with some planning and a clear idea of better rotation between the sticks, we could set ourselves up for the more long term future, by bringing in experience and a veteran, alongside a stopper or two with potential but more years left in their tank, and they can be mentored into the number one spot over time.
If that is the design that Rodgers would prefer to implement moving forward, given all the links that we have seen already, there are some very interesting options available out there that would more than tick most of the boxes our gaffer would be looking for.
Whilst Martin Dubravka is not entirely a new link for the club, the 43 capped current Slovakian international stopper is expected to be third choice at current club Newcastle United for the 2024/25 campaign, so it is highly expected that they would be willing to do a nominal transfer fee deal simply to get him off their wage bill, especially as the 35 year old’s existing contract comes to a natural expiry at the end of the coming campaign.
From Celtic’s point of view, he has a wealth of experience in the game and continued to feature regularly for manager Eddie Howe as they pipped Manchester United and Erik ten Hag to seventh place in the Premier League table, so he could very easily have at least a minimum of another two years left in him before he even begins to contemplate what his own future would hold when it comes to retirement.
If we do have an interest in him though, if reports are to be believed there are already several continental clubs tracking him, and following the emergence of the Saudi Arabian Pro League, it is said two of their clubs are interested in giving him a new experience.
One new interesting link to me are the rumours suggesting that we have a potential interest in Liverpool back up stopper Caoimhin Kelleher. The 25 year old has 13 caps to his name for the Republic of Ireland, but he has only ever made 47 appearances for the Anfield outfit since he first joined them back in 2016.
Whilst Kelleher is an interesting left field prospect, and it is heavily speculated that he is now looking to move on so that he can truly establish himself as a number one elsewhere, with a reported valuation of £15 million on his head, it just feels like a non starter from the beginning.
He would undoubtedly make a very good home for himself here, and we could give him the Champions League football that it is also said he craves, but I really cannot see it happening.
Image Source: unsplash.com