Just In: Celtic keen to signing £25k-per-week to replace star who started 48 games

Celtic ended their 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign in style on Saturday as they came from behind to beat St Mirren 3-2 at Parkhead on the final day.

The Hoops were then able to lift the top-flight trophy, which they secured with a thumping 5-0 win over Kilmarnock earlier in the week, after the match.

However, the season is not done and dusted yet as the Scottish giants have an SFA Cup final clash with their closest rivals at Hampden Park this weekend.

Brendan Rodgers has the opportunity to win two trophies in his first year back at Paradise and will have his focus on that match, before he can start to think about the upcoming summer transfer window.

One player who will need to be replaced ahead of the 2024/25 campaign is veteran goalkeeper Joe Hart, who is set to retire from football upon the expiry of his contract at Parkhead this summer.

His pending retirement means that Celtic will need to be in the market for a new number one to play between the sticks in Glasgow next term, and they reportedly have their eye on a player who has just been relegated from the Premier League.

Celtic’s interest in Burnley star

According to The Scottish Sun, the Hoops are considering a swoop to sign Burnley shot-stopper Arijanet Muric to bolster their options in goal in the window.

The report claims that Rodgers wants to sign a new first-choice, rather than bringing through a current player to replace Hart, and that the Clarets star has emerged as an option for the club.

However, it does not state how much it would take to snap him up from the soon-to-be-Championship side, who have just been relegated from the English top-flight.

The Scottish Sun also do not reveal whether or not the Kosovo international would be interested in ditching English football to be the number one in Glasgow.

This means that it remains to be seen whether the Hoops can convince him to join up with Rodgers’ squad to take over from Hart ahead of next season.

The outlet did, however, add that Real Madrid’s Andriy Lunin and Southampton’s Alex McCarthy had also been linked with possible moves to Parkhead, which shows that Muric is not the only goalkeeper on the club’s radar ahead of the summer transfer window.

If Celtic can land a deal to sign the Burnley colossus, though, then they could secure an exceptional replacement for Hart, who has been a regular starter throughout the current campaign.

Joe Hart’s last season at Celtic in numbers

The former England international, who was signed from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2021, has been the undisputed first-choice for Rodgers this term.

He has racked up 48 appearances in all competitions, with a 49th to come against Rangers at Hampden Park on Saturday, and played over 4000 minutes in total.

The 37-year-old titan started all six of the club’s matches in the group stages of the Champions League and failed to step up to the mark in that competition.

Hart ranks within the bottom 1% of goalkeepers in the Men’s Big 5 Leagues and European competitions over the last 365 days for percentage of crosses stopped (1.2%) and defensive actions outside of his penalty area per 90 (0.17), which shows how little he commanded his box in Europe.

He also ranks within the bottom 8% for post-shot xG minus goals allowed per 90 (-0.28), which essentially means that the veteran goalkeeper let in too many poor quality efforts on his goal.

These statistics show that the Burnley giant has been one of the most commanding goalkeepers in Europe over the last year, as he is sublime at coming off his line to clear danger and coming out to collect crosses to alleviate pressure on his defence.

Muric, who journalist Josh Bunting hailed as “exceptional” with his distribution, has also caught the eye with his shot-stopping quality in the top-flight.

As you can see in the table above, the Kosovo international has prevented 0.66 xG per 90 in the Premier League, whereas Hart let in 0.28 more than expected per 90 in the Champions League.