Ange Postecoglou’s Scottish Premiership champions could look to trim down their squad this summer with Vasilis Barkas just one of five Celtic players up for sale.
That is according to Sky Sports; Celtic’s rather bloated squad in need of some fine-tuning.
It’s a rather damning indictment of the club’s recruitment record pre-Postecoglou that a number of forgotten and largely unwanted players are still contracted to Parkhead. Barkas is one; the £4.5 million goalkeeper signed from AEK Athens ahead of Neil Lennon’s disastrous final season now out on loan at Eredivisie outfit Utrecht.
Barkas has been a man revitalised in the Netherlands. But Utrecht have all-but ruled out keeping him beyond the current campaign.
“We have to talk about realistic purchase options. A club like FC Utrecht, which cannot afford huge transfer amounts, has to be creative. By loaning players first, we buy time,” sporting director Jordy Zuidam said earlier in the year.
“Vasilis Barkas will return to Celtic. He is too expensive for FC Utrecht.”
Who will Scottish champions Celtic sell this summer?
According to Sky Sports, another player who arrived under Lennon – Ismaila Soro – is also unlikely to have a future in Glasgow. Celtic paid £2 million to sign the tough-tackling midfielder and he too is now out on loan, at Portuguese outfit Arouca.
Soro has been a victim of Postecoglou’s J-League revolution to some extent, falling behind the likes of Reo Hatate and Tomoki Iwata in the pecking order. The same fate befell James McCarthy; one of the few Postecoglou era additions who could be considered a ‘flop’.
McCarthy too is available for transfer. Ditto Albian Ajeti and Liam Scales.
Five up for sale?
Left-back Scales, if he was to return from a spell at Aberdeen, would find himself behind Greg Taylor and Alexandro Bernabei. Ajeti, one of the most expensive players currently on Celtic’s books, will depart for a mere fraction of the £5 million fee the Hoops paid for him, his market value diminishing ever further during a difficult loan spell in Austria with Sturm Graz.
According to reports in his native Switzerland, Sturm Graz have concerns about Ajeti’s injury record. They are currently unlikely to trigger the option-to-buy clause in his contract.
“We certainly won’t let ourselves be stressed about it now,” sporting director Andreas Schicker explains, quoted by Celtic Way.
“We’ll wait for the remaining games in the league, and then make a decision. Until then, we will be in constant contact with his advisor in order to constantly reassess the situation.”
The aforementioned quintet set Celtic back around £12 million combined.
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