Today’s tabloids have been linking Celtic midfielder Paul Hartley with a potential move back to former club Hearts, following his side’s failure to retain the SPL title yesterday.
Hartley is out of contract now, but given that Celtic are now manager-less after Gordon Strachan’s resignation earlier on this afternoon, it’s very difficult to say what’s going to happen with the likes of him and the rest of Celtic’s first team squad.
There certainly does have to be every chance that Hartley will be on his way though, but would a move back to Hearts necessarily be a good one for player and club alike? I could see it working, actually….
One thing that we’d need to get into our heads straight away though, would be that if Hartley did come back, we’d be getting a different player to the dynamic, attacking midfielder we originally sold to Celtic three years ago. The player was at the peak of his career back then and it was a widely-held view that Hearts had indeed managed to get the best out of him during his time in Gorgie, and to be honest there’s probably quite a lot of truth in that, even if Hartley has had his moments with Celtic.
However despite the fact that he is three years older now and may be asked to play in a different position, Hartley could well solve, temporarily at least, several problems that Hearts have in one go.
Firstly he could come straight back to the club and take the vacant captain’s armband without any dispute whatsoever. Hartley always had leadership qualities in abundance and commanded a lot of respect for that, so he would be an ideal candidate to come back in and take the role, which has in my opinion not been adequately filled since he himself left Hearts.
Secondly, with the impending departure of Bruno Aguiar and Adrian Mrowiec, not to mention Christos Karipidis, Hartley would give the Hearts midfield a much-needed boost. Whether or not he’d play in the offensive role that he previously enjoyed wouldn’t necessarily matter, as he has proved that he can competently play in a deeper position at a high level, so even if he’s a yard or two slower and doesn’t score as many goals, Hearts would still be gaining an intelligent footballer who could be used to fill several roles within the midfield.
This will all be hypothetical of course, until the club can confirm their interest in the player and that Hartley himself would be open to the idea of a return. If Celtic want to let him go then there is a chance of that, but a potential stumbling block would still be his wage demands – he’d have been on considerably more money at Celtic than Hearts could offer him, so he’d need to be prepared to take a pretty chunky cut for this to even get close to happening.
Still, would be nice to see this developing – Hearts badly need a personality at the club and for me, Hartley could well fit the bill….
Share this article
Related Articles
Paul Hartley was and still is too good for a negative side like Hearts. He’ll not be going anywhere.
Another constructive comment from yourself, sir – thanks for that.
Extremely ambivelant about this prospect, and you put the points across well. In all honesty, I think the most important thing he could / would bring back to the club would be his leadership qualities and personality… although saying that, both have clashed with Vlad in the past which is likely why he was sold to Celtic in a bit of a rush. He *was* an absolute legend for us – although like Neil McCann before him, I’m really not sure if coming back would be the best move for him or for us. Probably all paper talk though and he’ll end up at Bristol City next year.
…or end up staying at Celtic as our friend suggested….
I guess Hartley himself would prefer to stay at Celtic, but if the new manager doesn’t want to re-sign him, then he may be targetted by 1 or 2 Championship teams who would pay much higher wages than Hearts could. I agree though that he would still be an asset to us, and he’d probably respond well to Csaba (having also experienced the puppetry years as a contrast !!)
He’ll go for a pay day down south in no new celtic contract appears.
i’d like to see him back in the captain role and i imagine he’d be more of a Julian Brellier than a Paul Hartley , but that’d be fine. Will it happen, I doubt it. I’d be surprised if he wanted to be on the Romanov payroll again, and as has been suggested I’d see a move to the championship to a Sheffield United or Preston as much more likely. wherever – even if celtic – he’ll need to play regularly just on the off chance we make a world cup………. ;o)
Julien Brellier….wonder what he’s up to these days…..
Sacked by Norwich last I heard…
Brellier moved back to Europe, St Truen seems to ring a bell.
FC Sion is wiki is right but most it talks nonsense…
we could do with a a player like that….and I don’t think Mrowiec is that man.
Seems Csaba is keen to retain Mrowiec …..