No one can deny that since his £1m move from Spurs just under three years ago, Hart has been an immense success at Celtic.
For all his faults, the veteran goalkeeper has saved us in many games over the course of this season and replacing him is going to be extremely difficult.
He is also going to be missed sorely by the Celtic fans who have grown extremely fond of Hart over the years.
So who can replace him? Do Celtic even have names on a list? If not, here is one that I think could do a job and he could cost nothing this summer.
Alex Meret could be Celtic’s next Joe Hart
The current Napoli goalkeeper has been in great form for the Italian club this season. A Serie A and Italian Cup winner, Meret is out of contract this summer.
Meret was purchased by Napoli in 2018 for €25m (£22m) from Udinese.
Meret’s current contract only requires him to play 70% of Napoli’s first-team games this season in order for the extension to take effect, therefore his agency is optimistic that they can secure a one-year extension.
That doesn’t seem to be a problem because Meret’s name is the first one on the team sheet. However, it’s possible that his agency, as reported by TuttuMercato, is pressuring Meret to sign a longer, better contract, and if he doesn’t, he may decide to leave the team.
Meret now makes £49k a week at the Italian powerhouses, but if Celtic were to make a bid, they could use the money they save on a transfer fee to increase the 26-year-old goalkeeper’s pay. [PaySport]
Alex Meret’s stats and being a Celtic No1
This season, Meret has made 22 appearances for Napoli; he has four clean sheets, 25 goals allowed, and an average Fotmob rating of 6.61.
With a save success record of more than 66%, his 49 saves this season place him in the centre of the top performers in Serie A. Not too terrible, given that he’s facing some of Europe’s top strikers.
This season, Meret has faced two penalties and saved one, but with just four high ball claims, he has among the lowest figures.
With a success percentage of slightly over 45%, the 26-year-old has tried 84 long balls and has an accuracy of 81.7% when passing.
He has three caps for Italy as well. Although Meret is obviously talented and has to improve in certain areas of his game, Hart too needed improvement, but that didn’t hinder Hart from succeeding at Celtic.
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