Scottish Premiership champions Celtic are reportedly interested in AEK Athens’ Greece international goalkeeper Vassilis Barkas.
Celtic fans won’t have happy memories of Vassilis Barkas, the Greek international goalkeeper who has been linked with a move to the green half of Glasgow by Sportime.
After all, it’s just over a year since the Dutch-born 25-year-old helped his AEK Athens side knock Celtic out of the Champions League before the competition even began. A 3-2 aggregate defeat in the third qualifying round meant Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops missed out on a place in Europe’s premiere club competition, a whole month before the group stages kicked off.
And Barkas, who started both legs between the sticks, certainly played his part in what became one of Celtic’s most disappointing continental defeats in many a year.
After making a number of fine saves across almost 170 minutes of football, Barkas was beaten by a fine Scott Sinclair header as Celtic moved to within just one goal of qualification late in the second leg.
Keen to stop Celtic from regrouping and going again, the shot-stopper then took time-wasting to a whole new level, literally laying on the ball in his goalmouth as Sinclair, Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele attempted, in vain, to wrestle it out of his possession. S***housery of the highest order, we’re sure you’ll agree.
According to Sportime, it will cost around £6 million to convince AEK to cash in on their number one with Barkas seemingly identified as a potential alternative to Fraser Forster, the Southampton loanee whose future beyond this season remains uncertain.
And should Barkas arrive in Glasgow next year, he could be in for a rather awkward reunion with Sinclair in particular.
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