Joe Hart is going to exchange Tottenham Hotspur for Celtic, various English media report. The London Evening Standard writes that the transfer of the 34-year-old goalkeeper must be completed on Tuesday. Celtic will reportedly pay £1 million, converted 1.2 million euros, for Hart’s contract with Tottenham, which runs until mid-2022.
Hart settled with Tottenham a year ago, where he acted as second goalkeeper behind Hugo Lloris last season. Hart made up to eight appearances in the Europa League and the FA Cup the Spurs, but this summer he would drop down the pecking order. Tottenham took over Pierluigi Gollini on loan from Atalanta with an option to buy and the 26-year-old Italian will have to compete with Lloris for the position of first goalkeeper. The arrival of Gollini ultimately contributed to Hart’s departure, as the experienced closing post wants to play more regularly.
Celtic expressed their interest in Hart last week, but talks were deadlocked over the weekend. Sky Sports reports that negotiations gained momentum on Monday. Now Hart’s transfer to Celtic is about to be completed. According to the Daily Mail he is going to sign a three-year contract. The 75-time England international will compete in Glasgow with Scott Bain and Vasilis Barkas, who have failed to impress so far this season.
The intention is that Hart will already be part of the first leg in the third preliminary round of the Europa League against the Czech Jablonec on Thursday. The winner of the diptych between Celtic and Jablonec will face AZ in the last qualifying round of the qualifying cycle for the Europa League. For Hart, Celtic is the tenth club in his career after Shrewsbury Town, Tranmere Rovers, Manchester City, Blackpool, Birmingham City, Torino, West Ham United, Burnley and Tottenham. With Manchester City, Hart won the Premier League twice (in 2012 and 2014), twice the EFL Cup (in 2014 and 2016) and the FA Cup (in 2011).
After Toby Alderweireld, Erik Lamela and Juan Foyth, Hart is the fourth player to leave Tottenham this summer. The Spurs are willing to sacrifice the necessary players – Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko are also still nominated on the departures, while Davison Sanchez was linked to Sevilla – to make room for new signings. Gollini and Bryan Gil have already been brought in, while Tottenham are nearing a €50 million deal with Atalanta over Cristian Romero.