It’s probably safe to say that Hakon Valdimarsson – the £2 million-rated IF Elfsborg goalkeeper linked with a move to Scottish Premiership champions Celtic – is not exactly a household name on the green side of Glasgow.
But that could be about to change. With Joe Hart’s contract expiring, and neither Scott Bain nor Benjamin Siegrist obvious replacements, Celtic are scouring the market for shot-stoppers.
There is interest in the aforementioned Hakon Valdimarsson, according to Goteborgs Posten. And, despite being crowned the Goalkeeper of the Year at the 2023 Swedish football awards after an outstanding Allsvenskan campaign with Elfsborg, it is the 22-year-old’s performances on the international stage which should ease the reservations of those fearing another Gustaf Lagerbielke situation.
Celtic eye Iceland ace Hakon Valdimarsson
Lagerbielke arrived at Celtic from Elfsborg last summer and has failed to force his way into Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI, rumours of an early departure swirling already after just a few months in Scotland.
Lagerbielke, however, did not arrive with a stand-out performance against Cristiano Ronaldo under his belt, that virtuoso display in Iceland’s European Championship qualifier with Portugal in November surely earning Valdimarsson the benefit of the doubt amongst a sceptical Celtic fanbase burned by previous transfer failiures.
Valdimarsson set his stall out early, calmly and confidently gathering a Joao Felix shot which fizzed through a crowded penalty area after just three minutes. He had no answer to a brilliant Bruno Fernandes daisy-cutter but Valdimarsson did paw away a Ruben Dias volley from close range.
Then, it was Ronaldo’s turn to be denied. The £2 million-rated, Celtic-linked shot-stopper ‘superbly’ clutching a powerful header from arguably world football’s greatest ever goalscorer.
Goalkeeper got the better of Cristiano Ronaldo
“Did really well from the start and showed a lot of courage,” Icelandic publication DV wrote at full-time, Valdimarsson emerging with his reputation very much unscathed even if he maybe could have done more to keep out Ricardo Horta’s second-half winner.
“Other than that, he was excellent.”
If Celtic are to progress under Rodgers – in the Champions League in particular – the man chosen to inherit Joe Hart’s gloves must be capable of producing virtuoso, backs-against-the-wall performances against some of the planet’s finest forwards.
And Valdimarsson has already proven he can do just that.
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