Football FanCast
·8 February 2022
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·8 February 2022
Ange Postecoglou has dropped a huge hint on the future of Celtic goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas.
According to a report by Football Scotland, the 56-year-old Bhoys boss has included the 27-year-old shot-stopper in his 25-man Europa Conference League squad for the Hoops’ upcoming fixture against FK Bodo/Glimt later this month.
This would appear to all but end the speculation surrounding the Greece international’s potential exit from the club in the coming weeks, with reports suggesting that IFK Goteborg – who have been heavily linked with a move for the ‘keeper – have now turned their attention elsewhere.
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Considering just how poor Barkas has been since his €5m (£4.5m) move to Parkhead back in the summer of 2020, the news that the £20k-per-week goalkeeper looks set to remain on Celtic’s books until at least the end of the season is sure to have left the Bhoys fanbase fuming.
Indeed, in a poll ran by Football FanCast, the vast majority of Celtic supporters made it extremely clear that they would not be sad to see the £1.35m-rated stopper leave their club, while a further poll revealed that Hoops fans would even be happy for the 27-year-old to leave on a free transfer.
It is not difficult to understand why the Celtic support feel this way, as Barkas has offered his side very little since joining a little over a year and a half ago.
Indeed, over his 15 Premiership appearances last season, the Greek ‘keeper made it extremely hard to believe that the Bhoys scouting department had identified Barkas as their new first choice in the position, with the shot-stopper making an average of just one save and conceding an average of 0.7 goals per game.
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These returns saw the former AEK Athens man earn an incredibly disappointing seasonal SofaScore rating of just 6.79, ranking him as the Hoops’ joint ninth-worst player in the top flight of Scottish football.
As such, when adding in the fact that the player who Tam McManus dubbed “horrendous” has so far featured just twice under the management of Postecoglou, the news that the goalkeeper looks set to carry on picking up his £20k weekly paycheque at Parkhead is something that will infuriate Celtic fans.