Celtic last night attempted to ease the pressure on new manager Ange Postecoglou by making two big-name signings with the captures of goalkeeper Joe Hart and midfielder James McCarthy.
Hart, the former England goalkeeper, arrives on a three-year contract after Celtic paid Tottenham Hotspur a fee of £1 million, and could go straight into the team for the crucial Europa League qualifying tie against Jablonec in the Czech Republic tomorrow night.
The 34-year-old is joined at Celtic Park by a former Premier League rival in McCarthy, who has signed an agreement until 2025. The former Hamilton Academical, Wigan Athletic, Everton and Crystal Palace midfielder was a free agent following the end of his contract at Selhurst Park in June and he will probably need time on the training ground in order to get up to speed.
Postecoglou will hope that Hart’s arrival will resolve what has been a recurring problem since last summer, when Fraser Forster returned to Southampton and then head of recruitment Nick Hammond and goalkeeping coach Stephen Woods voted to spend £4.5m on AEK Athens’ Vasilis Barkas rather than re-sign Scotland’s No 1 David Marshall as a free agent, which had been then manager Neil Lennon’s preference.
Barkas, Scott Bain and Conor Hazard have proved unconvincing successors in the last 13 months and Hart represents an upgrade on that trio. Capped 75 times by his country, his last international outing was in a 0-0 draw with Brazil at Wembley in November 2017.
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Signed by Stuart Pearce for Manchester City from Shrewsbury Town in 2006, he won two championships, two League Cups and an FA Cup at the Etihad.
The arrival of Pep Guardiola in 2016, however, saw him make only one more appearance for City. Guardiola wanted a ball-playing goalkeeper rather than a traditional shot-stopper like Hart, whose distribution can be wayward. He spent season-long loans at Torino and West Ham United before Burnley paid £3.5m for him in 2018. He made 24 appearances in two years and then played ten times for José Mourinho at Tottenham Hotspur, all in cup competitions.
McCarthy, who has 43 caps for the Republic of Ireland, has been linked with a move to Celtic ever since the club rejected him as a schoolboy. He went on to make his senior debut for Hamilton at 15 and joined Wigan three years later, being part of Roberto Martínez’s team which beat Hart’s Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup final. Months later he reunited with Martínez following a £13m switch to Everton and enjoyed three successful campaigns at Goodison. Recurring hamstring problems and a broken leg (tibia and fibula) meant he made only seven first-team appearances in his final two seasons on Merseyside.
Crystal Palace paid £8.5m for him in 2019 and he played 35 times for them in the following term but started just 11 games in 2020-21, coming off the bench six times.
Given his medical history, a four-year contract may seem optimistic but, if he can remain injury-free, he will be an asset for Postecoglou and the club he grew up supporting.
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“To have signed for Celtic is a brilliant feeling and this is a special day for me and my family,” he said.
Hart, too, is bullish about the future. “This is a great moment for me in my career and I am absolutely delighted to be joining a club of Celtic’s stature,” he said. “I can’t wait to play in front of the fans at Celtic Park.”
Celtic continue to pursue Royal Antwerp’s Portugese right back Aurélio Buta. It is believed the clubs have settled on a £3 million fee but personal terms for the player have yet to be agreed.
