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Celtic: Frank McAvennie tears into Nick Hammond over recruitment of Vasilis Barkas
Former Celtic icon Frank McAvennie tore into goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas after he was dropped from Neil Lennon’s side that beat Kilmarnock 2-0 yesterday.
McAvennie blasts ‘awful’ Barkas
The 26-year-old has had a difficult time at Parkhead since his £4.5m move from AEK Athens in the summer, having received intense scrutiny after making a series of errors in the first-team.
Barkas has kept eight clean sheets from 17 appearances but has only featured in one of Celtic’s last five Scottish Premiership games (TransferMarkt).
McAvennie admitted that he did have some sympathy towards the Greece international and also criticised the recruitment boss Nick Hammond.
“My God, Barkas is awful,” he told Football Insider. “I feel for him though because the boy has come in, made a mistake and then realised how big a club Celtic is. He has been getting slaughtered from pillar to post.
“The recruitment at Celtic needs to be looked at because it has not been good enough, Barkas included.”
Transfer Tavern Verdict
It’s been an unfortunate period for Barkas, who has really struggled since his move to Scotland. Despite this, he has a fan in Neil Lennon who has stuck by him in previous interviews in response to those questioning his form.
However, Conor Hazard was selected over him for the game against Kilmarnock and the question remains as to whether Barkas will be able to get a chance in any of the upcoming games.
The young Northern Irish shot-stopper did not have much to do, but the fact that he kept a clean sheet should be enough to concern Barkas.
In other news, SPFL official reaches out to Dermot Desmond after Celtic development.
