Celtic have told Vasilis Barkas that he is free to line up a transfer this summer, according to Football Insider.
The lowdown
The Hoops paid £4.5m to sign the Greece international from AEK Athens ahead of the 2020/21 season, when Neil Lennon was still the manager at Parkhead. It’s the highest fee that Celtic have paid for a goalkeeper in their history.
The Greek stopper has made just 24 appearances for the club, conceding 23 goals and helping them to keep 11 clean sheets. His involvement this season has been minimal, with just one Premiership appearance to his name, the 3-1 win over St Johnstone on Boxing Day.
The latest
In a report published on Saturday morning, Football Insider claimed that Celtic are ‘willing’ to let Barkas leave in the summer transfer window.
As per a club source, they have even urged the £1.35m-rated ‘keeper to find a new club.
The verdict
Even from the early stages of his Celtic career, Barkas was – in the words of Hoops podcaster John McGinley – getting ‘slaughtered’ by pundits.
It’s worth noting that he would have been out the door already, had mooted January moves to Sheffield United and IFK Goteburg not collapsed.
With the 27-year-old behind both Joe Hart and Scott Bain in the Parkead pecking order, and costing Celtic £9,000 per week (£468,000 per year), it’s probably in the best interests of all parties that he moves on in the summer.
In other news, Alex McLeish reacts to a big update on one Celtic player
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