Celtic and Rodgers make 7m+ offer to sign new "hero" playing at Euro 2024
Celtic and Rodgers make 7m+ offer to sign new "hero" playing at Euro 2024
Celtic have made a transfer offer for a Euro 2024 star, according to a new report.
Celtic eye Joe Hart replacement
After a long and glittering career, Joe Hart announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership season, ending his career on a high after Celtic clinched yet another SPL title.
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"I wanted to get the message out, as of June I am going to stop playing football. This is something that I have thought about for a while, there's no right or wrong time is there?
"There is obviously a conversation around the goalkeeping position for next season and I think it's really important that with the blessing of the club we get the message out and it takes one thing out of what people are going to speculate over.
"I have gone down every avenue to keep myself in the best possible shape to give my all on game day and I do really think I am at that peak, but I am aware time waits for no man and I don't want my body to be retiring me. That was one of the key factors, thinking I can smash through the finish line."
In the wake of Hart confirming he will leave the club, Brendan Rodgers and co will need to find an adequate replacement, with the Hoops having been linked with a number of goalkeepers already. Celtic have reportedly made an offer of around £6.4m for the services of Trabzonspor goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, who has been a long-term target for the Scottish outfit. Southampton shot-stopper Alex McCarthy is also being monitored ahead of him becoming a free agent this summer. Elsewhere, Middlesbrough shot-stopper Tom Glover appears to be of interest.
Celtic make transfer offer to sign "hero"
Now, a fresh name, or rather an old name, has been linked with a move to Celtic Park this summer. The player in question is Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, who was labelled a "hero" by Peter Schmeichel following his starring display at the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-final stage versus Brazil.
“I think he is one of those players who is now storming onto the world scene,” said Schmeichel. “Everybody knows about him. Everybody knows who he is. At the moment, he plays in Zagreb, but he has also been good in all of the other games at the World Cup. At the penalty shootout (against Brazil), he was the hero. He had 11 saves against Brazil. Not all of them were massive and difficult saves. But you still have to do that.
“He has been very, very good and I would be very, very surprised if he stays in Zagreb now. He is one of those goalkeepers who a lot of clubs will be now looking at. Following him over this period and see if this was a four-week period where everything came right for him."
Celtic were first linked with the Croatian shot-stopper back in 2023 but according to AS Marca [via The Daily Record], Rodgers and co are back in the race for Livakovic and have submitted a €9million (£7.6m) bid to bring him to Scotland.
Livakovic is currently playing his club football in Turkey with Fenerbache, for whom he made 47 appearances and kept 21 clean sheets this past season. The shot-stopper was also between the sticks for his country over the weekend as Croatia fell to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Spain during Euro 2024.