Celtic could drop down to second in the Scottish Premiership table this week if their closest rivals win their game in hand on Wednesday night.
The Hoops could have gone four points clear at the top of the division with a win against Rangers on Sunday but failed to make the most of their leads during the match.
Brendan Rodgers' side were 2-0 and 3-2 up at points throughout the game and allowed the hosts to get back into the clash on both occasions at Ibrox.
The Scottish giants are still fighting to end the season with silverware to show for their efforts, having already been knocked out of Europe and the SFA Cup, and the Premiership title looks set to go down to the wire.
One player who will be particularly keen to secure a trophy or two before the summer is veteran goalkeeper Joe Hart, who has confirmed that he will be retiring from professional football when his contract expires at the end of the campaign.
Celtic's interest in international goalkeeper
The Hoops will need to dip into the market to replace the former England international shot-stopper ahead of the 2024/25 season, and they are reportedly keen on a Turkey international.
According to Turkish outlet Kontraspor, Celtic are interested in a deal to sign Trabzonspor number one Ugurcan Cakir to replace Hart this summer.
The report claims that the Bhoys have requested permission from the Super Lig side to negotiate a possible transfer for the experienced titan.
It states that Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson has invited the player's agents and lawyers to Glasgow to discuss a move ahead of the upcoming transfer window, whilst Rodgers is said to have requested a meeting with Cakir via a Zoom call – seemingly to convince him to make the switch to Scotland.
Konstraspor add that Celtic are prepared to pay as much as £7.5m to sign the talented colossus this summer, but the Turkish side are currently looking for €15m (£12.8m) to allow their star to depart.
His current contract with Trabzonspor does not expire until the summer of 2027, and this means that they are not under any pressure to cash in on the 28-year-old giant, as his deal is not close to running down at this moment in time.
Therefore, it looks like the Hoops will need to negotiate with the Turkish outfit and attempt to either drive the price down or add incentives, via add-ons and clauses, to get a deal over the line for a reasonable price.
If Celtic can secure a swoop for the Turkey international, however, then Rodgers could land an upgrade on the retiring Hart ahead of next season.
Joe Hart's season in numbers
The 36-year-old ace, who turns 37 later this month, has been a solid, if unspectacular, performer between the sticks for the Scottish giants this season.
Appearances
37
Penalties saved
0/7
Save success rate
65%
Errors leading to shots
4
Ground duel success rate
50%
As you can see in the table above, Hart ended a difficult 202/23 campaign in the Premiership under Ange Postecoglou, with a whopping four errors that directly led to shots for the opposition.
This term, however, the English veteran has only made one error in 31 league appearances and has improved his save success rate to 67%, which means that he has kept a higher percentage of the efforts on his goal.
The former Manchester City star has, though, let himself down in ground duels as opposition forwards have beaten him in 60% of his contests on the deck.
Hart also struggled in the group stages of the Champions League earlier this season. He ranks within the bottom 22% of goalkeepers in the competition for percentage of crosses stopped (1.2%), and the bottom 1% for average distance of defensive actions (5.9 yards).
This shows that the experienced stopper is hesistant to come off his line to deal with crosses or balls in behind his defence to alleviate pressure off the backline.
Celtic could now land an upgrade on the Englishman by securing a deal for Cakir, whether that is by convincing Trabzonspor to lower their asking price or by Rodgers convincing the goalkeeper – in the proposed Zoom call – to push for the transfer to be completed.
Why Ugurcan Cakir would be an upgrade on Joe Hart
The impressive titan, who only turned 28 earlier this month and is almost nine years younger than Hart, has been in fine form so far this season in Turkey.
He has saved 68% of the shots on his goal across 28 Super Lig appearances for Trabzonspor, and prevented 0.23 xG. This shows that he has been a fantastic shot-stopper and has not been a liability between the sticks.
Appearrances
28
31
Save success rate
68%
67%
Errors leading to shots
0
1
Ground duel success rate
80%
40%
Ball recoveries per game
7.8
7.6
As you can see in the table above, they have performed to a similar level in terms of their shot-stopping quality but the Turkish star has been significantly better in ground duels and has not made a single error leading to a shot or goal for the opposition.
In fact, Cakir has only made two errors leading to shots since the start of the 2021/22 campaign, which shows how reliable he has been in goal for Trabzonspor in comparison to Hart – who has made five since the start of last term.
The 28-year-old titan could also be an upgrade on the current Celtic number one in terms of his ability to come off his line to deal with danger.
In the 2022/23 Europa League campaign, Cakir collected 4.3% of the crosses into his box – in comparison to Hart's 1.2% in the Champions League this season – and his average distance of 10.0 yards per defensive action was also higher than the Hoops man's 5.9 yards this year in Europe.
This suggests that the £12.8m-rated star could provide more quality when it comes to commanding his box and coming out to act as a sweeper, rather than being rooted to his line.
Overall, Cakir's quality as both a shot-stopper and a dominant figure in the box suggests that he could come in as an upgrade on Hart, which is why Celtic must push to get this move done in the summer.
