Joe Hart’s professional career was going downhill around a year ago, before his move to Celtic. A legendary spell at Manchester City ended underwhelmingly following the arrival of Pep Guardiola and subsequent struggles at Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur, meant that many had written him off as a first-choice goalkeeper.
Celtic took a bit of a gamble when they signed Hart last summer and many questioned the decision to bring him in. So far, it has been all fruitful for both the club and the player, as he has quickly established himself as a fan favourite.
Since joining the Hoops in the summer of 2021, he has established himself not only as the first-team goalkeeper but also as a leader, something that the club needed following the departure of Scott Brown.
Many had questioned, and still question, Hart’s ability to play in a possession based team that likes to play out from the back. Ange Postecoglou does not appear to have had any such reservations though. As reported by The Herald, the Celtic manager said:
"“I wouldn’t have signed him if I didn’t think he could play the role the way I want to.“Ultimately, the No1 role for a goalkeeper is to make sure he keeps the ball out of the net and I have always tried to sign good goalkeepers. Beyond that, we want to try to be a team that play out from the back but I don’t want my goalkeeper to be the playmaker.“If we are doing our job correctly and setting up the team in the right way, hopefully the passes that any goalkeeper has to make are the simplest of ones that any goalkeeper can make. It’s more about embracing the role and the attitude that the individual has more than the skill set because there’s not a goalkeeper on the planet who can’t pass the ball five yards.“The funny thing is most of them are asked to ping balls 55 yards on a dime. My whole thing with Joe was he was an outstanding goalkeeper with an outstanding career and I still thought at his age he has many outstanding years in front of him. It was more about Joe the person.“Did he want to embrace the new challenge? Did he think he could keep improving? He’s been brilliant at that. He’s come in every day and he wants to learn and embrace what we are doing. He had every right to question everything I did because he’s worked with some of the best managers in the world. He’s never done that. He’s tried to understand the direction I want to take us in and bought into our football, which is great for me because he’s a very influential figure in the dressing-room.”"
Celtic manager sends clear message about Hart
At the age of 35, the Englishman still looks like a reliable gatekeeper for Celtic, and played a huge part in their Premiership and League Cup triumph last season.
Celtic have made a seamless start to their 2022/23 season as well, with Hart the man with the first-team gloves once again, even though the club did sign Benjamin Siegrist this summer.
There is a massive season ahead for Celtic as they will be making their return to the Champions League after many years. Hart’s experience could come in especially handy at such a stage, as a number of the club’s players have not played at that level before this.
Hart still has almost two years left on his contract at Celtic. If things keeping going as well as they have, it would not be a surprise to see him even being handed an extension in the future.