Celtic are reportedly interested in Real Madrid backup goalkeeper Andriy Lunin
The 24-year-old Ukrainian international has been identified as a possible replacement for Joe Hart who is out of contract at the end of the season.
Lunin joined the Galacticos at just 19-years-old but has barely featured for the club over the past five years. [Real Madrid]
And, according to the Record, Lunin has become frustrated at life in La Liga due to the lack of first-team football and that has alerted Celtic to his situation.
Well, as I mentioned before, Celtic need to source a long-term replacement for current goalkeeper, Joe Hart. TBR Celtic have been long advocates of Hart being offered a new deal at the club but the time will come when he will hang up his gloves.
Lunin is very clearly a talented keeper. A former u20 World Cup winner, Lunin was signed from Dnipro for just over £12m.
The Ukrainian first came to the fore during the u20 World Cup where, on top of winning the competition, he also won the tournament’s Golden Glove with some impressive performances. [FIFA]
Despite his hefty price tag, Lunin has made just 19 appearances for Madrid. He has had three loan spells to try and get first-team football.
He spent a season at Leganes where he made just seven appearances. The following year (season 2019/20) he went on loan at Real Valladolid but after making just two appearances for the La Liga side, his loan deal was terminated and he was immediately picked up by Real Oviedo in January and Lunin went on to make 20 appearances.
Lunin was also listed as one of the best u21 players in 2019 and was nominated for the Golden Boy award. [Independant]
He made his Champions League debut for Real in October of last year and in the same month played in the 3-1 win over Barcelona.
As I have said, Lunin appears to be a very talented goalkeeper. So talented, in fact, that in an interview just last week, the Real Madrid player revealed that even Jude Bellingham finds it tough to score against him.
Lunin said [Footbalium] “Jude Bellingham is an alien. Arriving at the best club in the world at 20 years old, scoring in every game, giving assists, influencing the games and the score.
“This is all out of this world. In training? Jude doesn’t score against me, I save his shots.
“It seems the only place he doesn’t score is during training, the goalkeepers are not capable of doing it during the official games.”
Will Celtic be able to pull off this deal? Finances and the player’s will to relocate from Madrid to Glasgow will dictate that.
It’s more likely to be a loan deal in my opinion but Lunin does seem like a player who could add quality to a position at Celtic that is clearly lacking.