Celtic and Brendan Rodgers are still following Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic but also have other targets in mind, according to Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph.
What’s the latest Celtic transfer news?
The Hoops have brought in a six new players at a total cost of £12m this summer, with Maik Nawrocki, Odin Thiago Holm, Hyun-jun Yang, Marco Tilio, Hyeok-kyu Kwon and Tomoki Iwata all making the move to Parkhead.
However, it doesn’t look as if the club are planning to stop there, with a deal for a new goalkeeper to rival Joe Hart seemingly on the to-do list. Livakovic was thought to be a player of interest at Celtic Park last month, but it looked as if he would sign for Turkish side Fenerbahce instead. As of now, the Croatia international remains a Dinamo Zagreb player, and it looks as if a move to Scotland could still yet materialise.
Talking on the CeltsAreHere podcast, relayed in a story on Thursday, Joseph said that the Hoops have still been monitoring Livakovic but are also eyeing other potential targets.
“Celtic have been closely monitoring Livakovic’s situation. A few days after I reported on it, Fenerbahce had made a bid and they were very close to doing that deal. That deal hasn’t been done yet, there has been a lot of delay to that and it could be on the brink of collapse.
“Other clubs are also interested, we reported that Villarreal, Saudi Arabian clubs and I believe another La Liga side are also in for him.
“Celtic have moved onto other targets. As far as I’m aware, they’re not any further on with these targets yet, and they’re still fully assessing the goalkeeping situation. I think that’s why we saw Siegrist and Scott Bain play the 90 minutes against Bilbao, and Joe Hart didn’t play any.”
Who is Dominik Livakovic?
Livakovic is 28 years of age and is the Dinamo Zagreb club captain. However, his current £15,000-a-week deal is set to expire in less than 12 months’ time.
In total, the shot-stopper has made 287 appearances for Dinamo Zagreb, keeping 134 clean sheets. Livakovic has experience of playing in both the Champions League and Europa League and is valued at €12m by Transfermarkt.
Frank McAvennie thinks Livakovic could be a solid signing at Celtic Park, recently describing the player as "different class" in the last World Cup.
“I think he will be a lot better coming to Celtic than going to Turkey. I would say we are a better club for anyone of that stature. He was different class in the World Cup. It would be a great thing for him and Joe Hart to have a fight.
“It would be wonderful for the football club, I do not think [Scott] Bain or [Benjamin] Siegrist can challenge Joe Hart.”
It looks as if a new ‘keeper could arrive to bolster Rodgers’ squad before the deadline, with a move for Livakovic not completely ruled out. There is plenty of interest in the player, though, so Celtic may need to make their move fairly quickly.
