Stephen McGinn makes it clear what Celtic need to do with Joe Hart ahead of January transfer window

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Stephen McGinn thinks Celtic need to sign another goalkeeper in January and find a long-term replacement for Joe Hart.

Celtic’s number one has had a mixed season in between the sticks. On one hand, as Stephen McGinn mentioned, his best performance this season perhaps came during the win at Ibrox earlier on in the campaign.

But, on the other hand, there have been moments of worry. In the Champions League, against Livingston, last week against Motherwell and against St Johnstone on Sunday.

It just adds more question marks given that Joe Hart is out-of-contract at Parkhead next summer.

That’s why Stephen McGinn thinks that the 36-year-old isn’t going to be at Celtic for the long-term, as he told Go Radio.

Rather than wait, the Falkirk midfielder, who is a boyhood Celtic fan, thinks that a new goalkeeper should come in during the January transfer window.

Should Celtic replace Joe Hart in January?

“Joe Hart isn’t going to be long-term the Celtic goalkeeper, that’s a fact,” said McGinn.

“But what they can do is they can sign the number one for next season in January. If the player they identify, to be the future goalkeeper of Celtic, he might be young, but he might come in January. 

“Maybe better than Joe Hart and he just plays (straightaway). Or he might not be ready to play. 

“I just think they need to address the goalkeeping situation as soon as possible. Joe Hart’s best performance for Celtic this season was at Ibrox. I thought he was huge for them. They needed him to step up. He showed a lot of character and made saves. Kept a clean sheet.”

Celtic beat St Johnstone

Let’s be honest, if the Bhoys dropped points against St Johnstone on Sunday, then a lot more would have been made of Hart’s mistake.

That opening goal was very poor concede and it was yet another corner where Hart failed to showcase his authority.

Chris Sutton was critical of him on commentary duty, before his teammates dug him out of a hole and produced a stunning second-half display.

Saying that, Celtic’s number one himself, at 2-1 and before James Forrest scored in stoppage-time to kill off the match, did pull off a brilliant save to deny the home team from equalising.