I am not totally surprised to see Celtic being linked with former England and Manchester City number one Joe Hart (Source The Scotsman).

It wouldn’t really surprise me if the Scottish Premiership champions were happy to see their name linked with the goalkeeper. They do need a new shot-stopper given Fraser Forster has returned to Southampton after his loan spell last term and former number one Craig Gordon leaving to rejoin Hearts this summer (Confirmed by HeartsFC.co.uk)

Now I don’t think The Hoops are actively looking to seal a deal with Hart, I actually think they’ll be more inclined to use the speculation as a bargaining chip to use in their transfer negotiations to bring Forster back to Parkhead from Southampton.

If Neil Lennon and Celtic’s hierarchy are serious in regards to Joe Hart, then I would urge extreme caution.

In his prime, Hart was a very good goalie at City and with England. He was cock of the north and loved the adulation that came with being number one for both club and country.

Joe was never the best keeper in the world, as he wasn’t great with his distribution and had the odd mistake within his game but saying that he had plenty of self confidence and had terrific reflexes.

Unfortunately that wasn’t enough for Pep Guardiola and when the legendary coach arrived at The Etihad he instantly decided that Hart didn’t fit in with his plans and need for a sweeper keeper.

Hart wasn’t helped by the fact he had also endured a poor Euros in 2016, two of his mistakes led to goals against his own team.

Hart was quick to realise that his time was up at Man City:

“I spent not a great deal of time with him but we immediately had a difference in opinion in how our careers were going to go. I was up against a superpower.

Joe Hart Via Manchester Evening News

Now in the four years since Guardiola’s arrival, City have gone from strength to strength and unfortunately for Joe his career has totally spiralled in the opposite direction.

A loan move to Serie A with Torino was marred by too many individual errors by the shot-stopper.

West Ham United then took him on loan during the next season and he ended that campaign on the bench as again too many mistakes crept into his game.

The goalkeeper then moved on a permanent deal to Burnley and he’s been there for the last two years.

In his first year at Turf Moor, he played in nineteen Premier League games but that was more out of necessity than due to his performance. He arrived with Nick Pope and Tom Heaton out injured. They would both overtake Hart in Sean Dyche’s plans once they were fully fit again. Ironically both were also ahead of Hart in the pecking order for England.

Joe didn’t make a single league appearance in the 2019-20 campaign for The Clarets and it was announced that he’d leave the club this month (From Daily Mail).

In all honesty Joe Hart has been a broken man since his City departure. He has lost that confidence that would see him get the best out of himself. Plus he still has all those failings that saw Pep dump him in the first place.

Why would Celtic gamble on a goalie that is past his best, just when they ‘re in the hunt for that elusive tenth league title in a row.

I don’t think he’s as good as Fraser Forster and in the last four years I don’t think he has been as good as the now departed Craig Gordon.

I’m not saying that Joe Hart couldn’t do a job at Celtic but when the chips are down can you bank on him not making a mistake in a game that really mattered?

There are better options out there and I just can’t see many upsides in Celtic bringing in a keeper that’s well past his peak!

Posted on June 30th, 2020 by scott
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