Celtic target Turkey international, potential exit to Aberdeen, Rangers star's secret issue, Defoe forced into Ibrox role - football talk

The latest news and rumours circling the Scottish Premiership on Tuesday, February 27

Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir clears the ball past Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo during a World Cup 2022 play-off semi-final in 2022. (Photo by MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images)

Celtic target Turkish goalkeeper

Celtic will be in the market for a goalkeeper this summer after Joe Hart announced his decision to retire at the end of the season. Brendan Rodgers' side have already been linked with Liverpool number two and Republic of Ireland international Caoimhin Kelleher. Now a new name has entered the mix with reports in Turkey claiming the Parkhead club are tracking Trabzonspor captain Uğurcan Çakır. The Turkey international has kept nine clean sheets for the Super Lig side this season, conceding 33 goals from 29 games. According to news outlet Günebakış, Celtic have placed the 27-year-old on their watchlist with any move likely to come down to Trabzonspor’s valuation of the player. Çakır has 26 caps for Turkey and was named as the goalkeeper with the highest save percentage in Europe just two years ago.

Defoe forced into Ibrox role

Former Rangers striker Jermaine Defeo has claimed he was "forced" into a player-coach role by Steven Gerrard in his final season at Ibrox. The 41-year-old was appointed to Gerrard's backroom staff in the summer of 2021 shortly before the Liverpool legend quit to take charge of Aston Villa. Defoe then had his coaching duties removevd when Gerrard's successor, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, brought in his own management team with a decision made for the then 38-year-old to focus on playing. However, the former England international has now claimed he wasn't keen on the Rangers coaching role in the first place. Speaking to Troy Deeney on the Football Firsts podcast, Defoe said: “Before I went to Sunderland, I hadn’t played in about two or three months. Stevie (Gerrard) went and Giovanni van Bronckhorst came in. I had a meeting with him and he basically said to me, ‘listen, what’s this player/coach thing?’. ‘I see you in training, you’re sharp, what’s the situation? Do you want to play or do you want to coach?’ I said I want to play. To be totally honest, I didn’t even want the player/coach role. It was forced upon me. So I decided to go to Sunderland.”

Abada set for ex-Celtic reunion

Liel Abada's impending Celtic exit could see him link up with a former Parkhead teammate in the MLS. According to reports in Israel, the 22-year-old winger is in talks with Atalanta United, who signed Giorgos Giakoumakis from Celtic last season, as well as Austin FC. Abada has been left out of the Celtic squad for the past three matches after manager Brendan Rodgers revealed he is not in the right frame of mind to play. It comes amid pressure from the Israel national side over a section of the Celtic support showing support Palestine.

Aberdeen want Celtic outcast

Aberdeen are eyeing a move for Celtic's third-choice goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist this summer, according to a report. The 32-year-old has barely played for the Parkhead side since completing a move from Dundee United in the summer of 2022, making just two League Cup appearances after falling behind Joe Hart and Scott Bain in the pecking order. The Daily Record claim that with current Aberdeen number one Kelle Roos out of contract in the summer, and likely to move on, the Dons recruitment team have placed Siegrist high up their list of potential targets for next season. Siegrist is under contract at Celtic until 2026 so the Dons would likely need to pay a transfer fee for the Swiss stopper or attempt to secure him on loan.

Rangers star's secret issue

Dujon Sterling has revealed that he was battling a secret eye issue during the opening months of his Rangers career. The 24-year-old was signed by Michael Beale from Chelsea in the summer but only managed a handful of appearances before eventually becoming a first team regular under Beale's successor Philippe Clement. However, the defender, who can also operate in midfield, has now lifted the lid on one of the reasons behind his slow start at Ibrox. “Back at the start of November, I woke up one day and had a couple of black lines in my eye line," Sterling explained. "I think the term they use is floaters. I had that and it was still giving me issues for a couple of weeks. It was blurry at the top of my eye so I couldn’t really see anything on my right side. I said to the gaffer that I wanted to play. But say, for example, it was nil-nil, and in the last minute a ball comes over and I can’t see it. I didn’t want to affect the team by playing when I knew I wasn’t 100 per cent right. He said, ‘that’s fine’ and to take as much time as I needed to get it sorted and that they’d fully support me. I saw a couple of specialists. They helped but it just went away by itself. I think it was only after the cup final that it fully disappeared. Even in the cup final I still had a tiny bit of it in the top corner. But now it’s completely gone. I don’t know what caused it - they just couldn’t say. Even now I don’t know. I’ll have another check-up in a couple of weeks. It’s just a time thing. There was nothing to take. They said they could do laser but that might affect me when I was older so I decided just to wait.”