CELTIC have widened their search for a goalkeeper after Motherwell rejected yesterday’s £200,000 bid for Trevor Carson.
The Fir Park club signed the Northern Irishman from Hartlepool for just £10,000 in the summer but have now slapped a £750,000 price on his gloves, sensing that Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is desperate having lost Scotland’s top goalkeeper Craig Gordon for 12 weeks after he picked up a knee injury in the 1-0 victory over Hibs on Saturday.
Two alternative names that have been confirmed to us this afternoon and we understand that Celtic are active in pursuing both with a view to bringing in a replacement goalkeeper before the window closes.
The first name is Adam Bogdan, the 6 foot 5 Hungarian keeper who is now back at Liverpool and recovered from his own injury problems.
The former Bolton keeper joined Liverpool in 2015 and was sent out on loan to Wigan. He made 17 appearances for Wigan before suffering a tear in his ACL, and he returned to Anfield for treatment.
Bogdan made six appearances for Liverpool during his debut season before being loaned to Wigan Athletic in July 2016; however, his knee injury cut short his stint with the Latics and he returned to Melwood before the end of the year to begin a rehabilitation programme.
Bogdan was a target for former Sevco Rangers boss Mark Warburton who wanted to bring the 31 year old keeper to the City Ground before losing his job.
The third name on Brendan Rodgers’ shopping list is Joe Hart, who is currently on loan at West Ham from Manchester City.
However David Moyes has issued a hands-off warning today, saying that Hart has every chance of breaking back into the West Ham side before the end of the season.
The Manchester City loanee was first choice under Slaven Bilic, and in Moyes’ early games, until Adrian had to step in at the Etihad.
Since that clash against Hart’s parent club, the Spaniard has held on to the jersey.
With the World Cup in Russia looming, Hart is desperate for first team football and this may give Rodgers an opportunity. However, Moyes, who Rodgers beat to the Celtic job in May 2016, says there have been so far, no discussions with the England keeper about cutting his loan short.
“No, no. You can talk as much as you like about it (cutting the deal short) but we’ve got no intentions,” the former Celt said.
“Adrian has got to be at his best in all the games. I’ve got tight competition. I’ve got England’s goalkeeper which will keep Adrian on his toes.
“That’s obvious. In a way I’m quite happy with that because I need the goalkeepers to play really well for us to win the games and stay away from the bottom end of the league.
“At every opportunity, when I think it is right, I will play Joe Hart.
“I will give Joe Hart an opportunity to show but I would never be disrespectful to Adrian in any way because Adrian has earned it by his performances.
“At every opportunity I can, I will give Joe the opportunity to show he is still England’s best goalkeeper. I’ll try to do that. If Adrian in any way slips up then I’ve got Joe ready.”
With names like Adam Bogdan and Joe Hart in the mix for a move to Celtic, Motherwell may have to look elsewhere for a buyer for their £10,000 goalie.
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