Bad news for Hart as Celtic eye up swoop for “exceptional” £10k-p/w titan

Celtic have been touted with an interest in a Premier League shot-stopper as Brendan Rodgers looks to bolster his playing squad this month.

Celtic’s hunt for a long-term goalkeeper

According to The Scottish Sun, the Northern Irish boss is eyeing a swoop to sign Caoimhin Kelleher from Liverpool and wants the Ireland international to move up to Glasgow.

The report claims that the Hoops manager is a long-term admirer of the Reds youngster and has an eye on him to be his future number one at Parkhead.

However, the outlet adds that a move is unlikely to happen this month at this stage and a summer transfer could be on the cards instead, with Jurgen Klopp’s side looking at Sunderland’s Anthony Patterson as a possible replacement.

This could be bad news for Joe Hart, particularly if Celtic are able to snap Kelleher up this month, as the former England international’s contract is due to expire in the summer.

Joe Hart’s European struggles

The veteran goalkeeper struggled for the Bhoys in the Champions League this season, and last term, with his weak shot-stopping performance.

Hart conceded 1.7 more goals than the average goalkeeper would have been expected to let in based on the post-shot Expected Goals (xG) value of the efforts against him.

That was also the case for the 36-year-old stopper during the 2022/23 campaign as he conceded 15 goals from a post-shot xG of 13.3 for the Hoops in that competition.

Hart currently ranks within the bottom 14% of Champions League goalkeepers this season for post-shot xG faced minus goals allowed per 90 with minus 0.28. He also ranks within the bottom 20% for percentage of crosses stopped with 1.2%.

Why Kelleher could be an upgrade on Hart

Kelleher’s arrival could be bad news for Hart because of his age and ability as the talented youngster has shown plenty of promise with the Reds.

The £10k-per-week titan has only conceded 0.5 more goals than expected in comparison to the post-shot xG he has faced across ten Premier League outings for Liverpool.

His performances for the English giants during their run to the League Cup trophy during the 2021/22 campaign were particularly impressive. He saved 84% of the shots against him and completed 2.0 successful run-outs per match across four appearances.

Meanwhile, Hart has never averaged higher than a save percentage of 73% across a Scottish Premiership season and has never averaged more than 0.3 successful run-outs per game.

These statistics suggest that the potential is there for the Ireland international to come in as an upgrade on Hart with his shot-stopping quality and willingness to sweep up behind his defence to allow for a high line, if he can maintain consistency and adapt to Scottish football.

Kelleher, who was once hailed as “exceptional” by Klopp, is also 11 years younger than the English colossus and could be the long-term number one for Celtic moving forward.

The club’s active interest in the Liverpool ace is, therefore, bad news for the veteran ahead of his contract expiring in the summer as it suggests that Rodgers is looking at life beyond Hart, which does not bode well for his prospects of being the first-choice at Parkhead for much longer.