Joe Hart’s transfer to Parkhead seems imminent now after reports from trusted sources Fabrizio Romano and Stephen McGowan all but confirmed the Englishman’s arrival.
There will be some questions raised over the signing of Hart and whether he will fit Ange Postecoglou’s system.
One of the first decisions Pep Guardiola made when he took over at Manchester City was to send the former England number 1 on loan to Italian outfit Torino where he endured a very tricky spell.
Guardiola’s reasoning was that Hart wasn’t good enough with the ball at his feet, and that is a trait that is a must have in Ange’s system. Hart hasn’t been able to rediscover his form in spells at West Ham, Burnley and most recently Tottenham Hotspur and will be hoping Celtic is the right club for him to get back on track.
Who better to help the keeper get back to his best than our own Stevie Woods, who was praised heavily by Fraser Forster after his successful loan spell at the club during the 19/20 season.
Celtic need a keeper with confidence, a presence in that backline and Joe Hart is exactly that. Barkas and Bain don’t speak to their backline, hence why there is always so many issues with communication whereas Hart is loud and can help marshal a defence that is in desperate need of a calm, experienced figure. The fact that that Hart is taking a huge pay cut, with him reportedly earning £15k a week at Celtic shows that he isn’t here for a payday and is committed to the cause. He just wants to play regular first team football.
It is a risk, and he doesn’t seem to fit the system, but Celtic just need improvements and he can’t be worse than any of our current options.
What does his arrival mean for the rest of our keepers?
With Hart’s arrival Celtic will now have 5 goalkeepers at the club; Joe Hart, Vasilis Barkas, Scott Bain, Conor Hazard and Ross Doohan. That’s way too many for a position that only 1 can play – a few will need to make way.
Vasilis Barkas has endured a disastrous spell at Celtic, and has struggled to adapt to life in Scotland, and the fact we have been under strict lockdown rules won’t have helped him adapt to a new culture and country either.
I can see a move back to his homeland being on the cards for the former AEK Athens number 1, perhaps a loan move with an option to buy to try and recoup some of the £5 million we spent on the former Greek international last summer.
Conor Hazard was linked away earlier on in the window with another loan move to Dundee FC, and he clearly isn’t Celtic quality despite his penalty shoot-out heroics in the 2020 Scottish Cup Final so a move away from Celtic is surely on the horizon for the Northern Irishman.
Ross Doohan went out on 2 separate loan spells last season at Ross County and Dundee United so perhaps another loan spell could be in the offing for him as well.
That leaves us with Scott Bain, who hasn’t impressed all that much at Celtic when he came in as an emergency signing in January 2018. Celtic probably won’t sign another goalkeeper in this window, so Scott Bain will more than likely play as backup to Joe Hart.
As long as everything goes according to plan in the medical today, Hart could be registered for the Jablonec tie on Thursday. Celtic have until 11pm on Wednesday to submit their final squad. He many not make the game in the Czech Republic, but you have to think he is nailed on to start on Sunday at home to Dundee FC
