Following Joe Hart’s announcement that he will be retiring at the end of the season, Celtic will be searching for a new custodian during the summer transfer window.
The 36-year-old custodian has been a fantastic asset to the team since joining Ange Postecoglou on a permanent basis from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2021.
Between the 2022–2023 and 2022–2023 seasons, Hart started 72 of the 76 Scottish Premiership games played by the team as the Hoops won the championship in both.
Vasilis Barkas, the massive flop the former England international replaced at Parkhead less than three years ago, was Celtic’s biggest disappointment.
Former Hoops manager Neil Lennon pounced to sign the custodian from Greek team AEK Athens in the summer of 2020 for a reputed £4.5 million, plus $1 million in salary annually.
Barkas failed to secure a regular berth in the starting lineup for the Scottish giants, therefore the deal did not work out as planned for any of the parties involved.
After starting nine of the team’s first ten Premiership games, he only made five more appearances on the field throughout his 16 games as a substitute.
Throughout the 2020–21 league season, Scott Bain—a Scottish goalkeeper—became Lennon’s first-choice option in goal, stopping 69% of the shots that were directed at him.
On the other hand, Barkas, who was labelled “awful” by analyst Frank McAvennie, only stopped 60% of the shots on target in 15 Premiership games, indicating that he was not competent enough to start ahead of Bain.
Following his signing, Hart played in just one league game for Celtic that season, giving up one goal and making zero saves. Hart was a Greek goalkeeper.
For the 2022–2023 season, the Hoops sent him on loan to FC Utrecht in the Netherlands; however, it is unclear how much the Hoops paid for his salary.
The left-footed flop cost Celtic £2 million in salary during his first two years in Glasgow, on top of the £4.5 million they paid AEK to sign him in 2020. If his wage were paid in full, Celtic would have saved £1 million last season.
In the summer of 2023, the Scottish giants then gave him a one-year contract termination early, having originally signed him to a contract that would have lasted until 2024, so he could sign for Utrecht on a free transfer.
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