Celtic ‘Betting The Strongest’ On 27-year-old As ‘First Approaches’ Made | OneFootball

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Celtic are the club ‘betting the strongest’ on Las Palmas custodian Dinko Horkas with ‘first approaches’ made by the Scottish champions to the Spanish side.

Signing another goalkeeper this summer is high up on Martin O’Neill’s agenda and it does not appear to be a deal they want to sleep on until late in the window.

Horkas came through the ranks of Dinamo Zagreb’s youth system, then after two years at Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Bulgaria, finally arrived at Las Palmas in the summer of 2024.

The 27-year-old shot-stopper has played club football in Croatia, Bulgaria and Spain, while also representing the Croatia national team at Under-21 level.

This term, Horkas made 41 appearances in the second tier of Spanish football, conceding only 39 goals and keeping 14 clean sheets in the process.

Following strong displays between the sticks in La Liga 2, he has garnered interest from Celtic, who are in the hunt for a goalkeeper this summer after the retirement of Kasper Schmeichel due to injury.

A host of sides have been looking at Horkas, but according to Spanish journalist Angel Garcia, it is Celtic who ‘seem to be betting the strongest’ on him.

Celtic have already made ‘first approaches’ to Las Palmas to explore a deal to take the Croatian to Parkhead this summer.

Celtic promoted Viljami Sinisalo to the number 1 between the sticks during the latter stage of the recent season after Schmeichel suffered a career-ending shoulder injury.

The 24-year-old put in strong displays towards the end of the season, helping the Bhoys secure a domestic double and former top-flight attacker Tam McManus lavished praise on the young goalkeeper.

However, Celtic have been actively looking into the transfer market to add depth to the goalkeeping department, and the Glasgow club have shown interest in Tjark Ernst, though they face competition from Feyenoord.

O’Neill will want to strengthen his side during the course of the summer transfer window and might want to take care of the goalkeeper situation in the early days of pre-season.

Horkas still has two years remaining on his current contract with Las Palmas, but with substantial interest from Celtic, a switch from Spain to Scotland could be on the cards.

Besides that, Celtic would provide Horkas with the opportunity to play in a top-flight, with possible game time in European competition, and a chance to compete for silverware.

Now all eyes will be on the transfer fee La Palmas will demand to part ways with a key member of the squad this summer transfer window.