Over the last few days, a Celtic transfer rumour has cropped up that makes very little sense on paper. It has been suggested that despite the fact that Kasper Schmeichel signed an extension recently, the club are continuing to keep an eye on veteran Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. That link has left many fans scratching their heads in confusion.
This is not the first time Celtic have been linked with the Newcastle United goalkeeper. Last summer, they were believed to be interested in Dubravka as well. But that was before they signed Schmeichel.
Dubravka is a decent goalkeeper, there is no doubt about that. But he is very similar in terms of age when it comes to Schmeichel. So, it does not make much sense for Celtic to have two veteran goalkeepers at the same time.
There is one scenario in which the interest does make some sense though. And that is if the club have a backup plan, in case Schmeichel chooses to retire. As reported by Glasgow World, Stephen McGinn told Go Radio:
"One of them might be, I mean, Kasper Schmeichel’s achieved everything he could probably ever wish to achieve in the game, financially set. He might have a decent relationship with Brendan Rodgers to the point where he'll say, I've signed this new deal.
“I'm 90% sure I'll be there next year. But you never know. Maybe say, right, just let me see how my first week or two goes with the family, where if I'm ready to go again. Because he is at that age where I'm pretty certain he'll be the Celtic goalkeeper next year. But you've got to be ready just in case he has a shock announcement. A phone call to Brendan Rodgers saying, look, I've been, thanks for everything, but that's my time up. So you just need to be ready.
“It might have just been that they've touched base with the agent, and just say, can you keep us in mind, just what you're doing over the summer? It might be as simple as that. So it's just getting themselves ready, just in case any kind of shock decision came from Kasper Schmeichel’s camp."
Real reason why Celtic may want Newcastle's Martin Dubravka
To be very honest, the chances of the Dane retiring out of nowhere feel like slim to none at the moment. He is still playing at a pretty high level and has done a pretty good job since joining Celtic.
Yes, he has suffered an injury recently. And at his age, all of them are somewhat worrying. But the expectation is that he will be able to recover from it before the end of the campaign. So, it is certainly not one that is being viewed as very serious.
Let's see what the future holds for Celtic. But the chances of them actually going out and signing Dubravka in the summer are pretty slim at the moment. They might be keeping him as a backup option though. Just in case.