Imagine him & Carter-Vickers: Celtic plotting move to sign "brilliant" star

One of the main objectives for Celtic during the summer transfer window, which officially opened for business last Friday, should be to find a new number one.

The Hoops do not currently have a player occupying the shirt number ahead of the 2024/25 campaign after Joe Hart left the club at the end of last month.

He officially retired from professional football when his contract with the Scottish giants expired at the end of the season, after a three-year stint in Glasgow.

The 37-year-old titan racked up 153 appearances for the Bhoys in all competitions in those three years, with 64 clean sheets and 145 goals conceded.

Hart won the Scottish Premiership title in all three of his seasons at Parkhead and his successor has an incredibly tough act to follow, which means that Brendan Rodgers must nail his replacement this summer.

The Hoops are already reportedly looking at players to come in and take his place as the number one at Paradise, and a current Premier League ace is seemingly on their radar.

Celtic’s pursuit of Premier League and Euros star

According to Football Insider, the Premiership champions are preparing a swoop to sign Newcastle United shot-stopper Martin Dubravka to bolster their squad.

The report claims that the Scottish side are plotting a deal to bring the experienced giant to Glasgow this summer to become their new number one.

It states that the Magpies have already told the 35-year-old star to find a new club ahead of the 2024/25 campaign as they would like to bring in a younger back-up option to current first-choice Nick Pope.

This suggests that Eddie Howe is pushing him out of the door and that could hand an advantage to Rodgers as he could make Dubravka feel needed and reassure him that his place at Parkhead would be as the number one, first-choice, option.

Football Insider adds that Celtic are weighing up a move for the Slovakia international, who is currently at the European Championship with his country.

However, it does not reveal how much the Premier League outfit are set to demand for the veteran titan or how much the Hoops are prepared to pay for him.

It also remains to be seen whether or not the Bhoys can afford or are willing to pay his £40k-per-week wages, or if the player would be open to lowering his wage demands in order to make the move to Scotland.

If the club can strike an agreement with the English side and the Slovakian star, however, then they could land a fantastic partner at the back for colossal central defender Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Cameron Carter-Vickers’ importance to Celtic

Since joining, initially on loan, from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2021, the towering centre-back has been a terrific player in the Premiership.

In fact, his form has led to recent speculation that Fulham, Ipswich Town, and West Ham United from the Premier League are all interested in a deal to sign him this summer, which speaks to how impressive he has been in Scotland.

Carter-Vickers earned himself a place in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year for the 2023/24 campaign, thanks to his sublime performances at the heart of Rodgers’ defence.

As you can see in the table above, the 26-year-old enforcer consistently dominated opposition attackers on the deck and in the air in physical duels.

He rarely allowed forwards, particularly in the air, to get the better of him and that meant that the defender was able to win possession back on a regular basis, as shown by his 5.7 ball recoveries per game.

The USA international is a dominant centre-back who can be relied upon week-in-week-out when selected, as shown by his statistics and his inclusion in the Team of the Year, which shows how highly his fellow professionals rate him.

This means that Carter-Vickers is the dream player for a new goalkeeper to see upon their arrival, as they know that they have a solid defence in front of them.

Dubravka would arrive at Parkhead this summer, if Celtic can agree a deal for the shot-stopper, and not be worried about what will be in front of him, due to the quality of the star centre-back protecting his goal.

Why Celtic should sign Martin Dubravka

That would then allow the 35-year-old ace to solely focus on his own game rather than worrying about having to constantly come off his line to deal with any mistakes from the defenders ahead of him.

Carter-Vickers has not made a single error that led to a shot or goal for the opposition in his three Premiership seasons with the club, which speaks to his reliability and shows that Dubravka does not have to worry when the American battler is on the ball.

Meanwhile, the Slovakia international’s form for club and country suggests that he could be just as impressive for the Scottish giants next season.

As you can see in the table above, Dubravka enjoyed a terrific start to the Euros with a superb performance against Belgium in a huge 1-0 win for his country, outperforming the xG tally against him with saves from high-quality shots.

His superb performance for Slovakia comes off the back of a solid season in the Premier League as an injury to Pope meant that he played 23 times in the top-flight.

In those games, the Hoops target saved 68% of the shots on his goal and conceded 0.61 fewer than expected, which shows that his shot-stopping was very reliable.

Howe described him as a “brilliant” shot-stopper during the campaign and the aforementioned statistics back that up, as he let in fewer than the average goalkeeper would have been expected to based on the xG against him.

Therefore, the Magpies titan could come in as a fantastic signing for Rodgers as he is an experienced talent, at the age of 35, who is still in top form, as shown by his statistics for club and country, which is why him and Carter-Vickers could form a solid base for the club next season.