There are an increasing number of tweets from Turkey suggesting that Celtic are involved in the future of Dominik Liivakovic.
A fortnight ago the Croatian international goalkeeper seemed certain to join Fenerbahce with Fabrizio Romano tweeting that the deal was almost over the line.
Day after day the transfer seemed to stand still. Last night there was an unexpected twist when Livakovic was named in the Dinamo Zagreb side that played Astana in a Champions League qualifier.
That would suggest that the keeper doesn’t have his heart set on Turkey with his club happy to use the 28-year-old as they look to navigate the Champions route into the group stage of the Champions League.
With a year left on his contract it is now or never but the assumptions of a fortnight ago haven’t come to pass with goalkeeper one position that Celtic fans are concerned about.
Transferde saf dışı kalan Celtic ise bunu fırsat bilerek yeni bir teklif yaptı. Başından beri söylediğim gibi Livakovic, kulübüne bağlı ve Dinamo Zagreb için en iyisini istiyor. Şu anda da kulüp “gerekirse satmayız” imajı çizerek daha fazla para kazanmaya çalışıyor.
[2/2] https://t.co/SJCx9fLtMd
— Duyum Vitrini (@duyumvitrini) July 26, 2023
TRANSLATION: Celtic, who was excluded from the transfer, took advantage of this and made a new offer. As I said from the beginning, Livakovic is committed to his club and wants the best for Dinamo Zagreb. Currently, the club is trying to make more money by painting the image of “we won’t sell if necessary”.
Normally a Twitter account with 1,500 followers wouldn’t be worth taking notice of but since Vitrini only follows two Twitter accounts the Fenerbahce Transfer account does have some credibility. The accounts being followed are the official Fenerbahce account plus Fener Global which has 88,000 followers.
In previous years there would be no shortage of European clubs throwing around £10-15m but it seems that outside of Scotland UEFA’s Financial Sustainability rules are making clubs think very carefully about what they are spending with balancing the books a strong requirement.
Celtic find themselves in a fairly unique goalkeeping position with Joe Hart the virtually unchallenged first pick, missing just three SPFL matches since he moved to the club.
Age seems to be the main concern that Celtic fans have with Hart, his form did take a dip at the end of the season but he was far from alone as the defence lost the influence of Cameron Carter-Vickers.
In the games that mattered, when the prizes were decided Hart was flawless, putting in outstanding performances at Hampden as the challenge from Micky Beale’s side was brushed aside.
Hart looks more than good enough for another year of domestic challenges but like almost all of the Celtic squad there are question marks and doubts over how ready they are for the far more demanding challenges of the Champions League.
There are absolutely no guarantees but eight years Hart’s junior, if Liivakovic could repeat his World Cup form he could make the subtle difference that decides Champions League ties, the fine margins that Kenny Miller likes to hold onto.
While Livakovic attempts to help Dinamo Zagreb through three qualifying rounds into the group stage of the Champions League a place at that stage is already secured at Celtic.
During the World Cup Finals Josip Juranovic is bound to have discussed his Champions League experiences with his team-mates, he certainly can’t rival Luca Modric but there is a curiosity and mystique on the continent about Celtic that might just entice Livakovic to find out exactly what is on offer. Any developments with the Croatian keeper will almost certainly surface first of Twitter.
