Celtic transfer 'target' training with non-league club as former Chelsea and Everton star hunts new team

Asmir Begovic is currently training at a non-league club amid transfer links to Celtic.

The former Everton and Chelsea goalkeeper has been linked with a move to Brendan Rodgers’ side this summer. Joe Hart has retired after three years as the Hoops number one, with a host of targets linked with making a switch to the Premiership champions.

One of those is Begovic, who is a free agent after leaving QPR following a productive season in the English Championship. To keep up his fitness in the meantime the 37-year-old has joined Aldershot Town for pre-season. He has been pictured in the club's blue kit practising after checking in for the club's second training session ahead of the new 2024/25 season.

The former Bosnia and Herzegovina international’s appearance likely comes through a relationship he has with the club's goalkeeping coach David Smalley, who is believed to be the lead goalkeeper coach at Begovic’s goalkeeper academy.

After starting his career at Portsmouth and taking in a variety of loans, the keeper made the move to Stoke City in 2010. He spent five years at the Potters before a move to Chelsea, where he remained until 2017.

A move to Bournemouth followed for a four-year stint that also included a loan spell in Azerbaijan at Qarabag, and then to Italy with AC Milan. Begovic then had two years at Everton before spending the last 12 months playing regularly for QPR in the Championship. Now the veteran is getting ready for his next challenge.