A significant rebuild awaits Celtic this summer, regardless of who will be their manager.
The Scottish Premiership title race may still be open, but regardless of how it turns out, it will be a summer of change.
Just this week, Benjamin Nygren and Arne Engels have been linked with moves away, and other players are coming towards the end of their cycles at Celtic Park.
It’s reminiscent of the summer of 2021 when Ange Postecoglou arrived… and when it comes to goalkeepers, Celtic should be looking to repeat that trick this summer.
Should Celtic keep the trend going this summer?
Celtic should sign another experienced goalkeeper this summer
Eyebrows were raised when Joe Hart was brought to Glasgow that summer, but the signing quickly turned out to be a masterstroke.
He made over 150 appearances for the club, winning seven trophies.
READ MORE: Arne Engels Celtic exit ‘planned’ with RB Leipzig back in for midfielder
Hart became a leader in the dressing room in one of the most dominant Celtic teams ever. He has since described it as the most enjoyable period of his career.
When he decided to hang up the gloves, Brendan Rodgers replaced him with a close friend in Kasper Schmeichel.
We have just witnessed the end of Schmeichel’s Celtic career, and it wasn’t pretty — but despite fans’ attempts to re-write history, he was exceptional during his first season.
Both Hart and Schmeichel allowed Celtic to kill two birds with one stone: signing a leader, and signing a reliable goalkeeper. With such a huge rebuild ahead this summer, they could do a lot worse than going down the same route again.
It’s all well and good suggesting this, but which experienced goalkeepers are actually available this summer?
Stefan Ortega was linked with Celtic earlier this season. Instead, he joined Nottingham Forest in January on a short-term contract. He is available on a free transfer this summer.
Celtic have also been linked with Mat Ryan, who has been first-choice for Levante in La Liga. If we really want to get over-confident, Yann Sommer’s contract at Inter Milan is up…
Has he done enough?
Martin O’Neill on huge Celtic rebuild
Discussing the club’s upcoming rebuild last month, Martin O’Neill said: “We will have to try and act relatively quickly on players.
“On the larger picture, yeah, I’m looking at this minute at players, but it is strange, because I’m more focused on the matches here.
“So, if you’ve got a spare hour, the scouts are in there, they’re looking at a lot of things, which they should be doing anyway.
“This is the point. Let’s say somebody steps in during the first week of June or something, then [the scouts] should be able to put a lot of this forward to him and say, ‘This is what we’re doing, this is the general consensus that these players are really good’.
“And then it’s up to him to have a look at these players and see.”
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