After the acrimonious departure of Celtic legend Neil Lennon, could Vasilis Barkas reclaim his spot as the Hoops number one goalkeeper?
In the latter stages of the Irishman’s tenure at Parkhead, Scott Bain was preferred to the Greece international who was purchased for around £4.5 million from AEK Athens last summer. Although Barkas has performed spectacularly in a Celtic shirt by any means, he has not been afforded a fair crack of the whip and was thrown under the bus by his former manager on multiple occasions.
With only eight fixtures left to play in the Scottish Premiership, now could be the perfect opportunity to bed in the 26-year-old between the sticks ahead of next season. Statistically, Barkas has kept 9 clean sheets in 20 appearances for Celtic in 2020/21.
On examination these numbers are by no means disastrous, whilst they also lend credence to the idea that he could still prove to be a shrewd signing for the Celts. These figures are made all the more notable when compared with goalkeeping counterpart Bain, who has only kept 4 clean sheets in 15 first-team outings this campaign which demonstrate how poor the Scot has been in recent times.
Neil Lennon’s decision to chop and change the back four consistently across the campaign, has also further served to hamper the Greek stopper forging an understanding with his defenders. When the time comes for the rebuild at Celtic Park, the Celts are unlikely to spend a large sum of money on a goalkeeper.
This could well pave the way for Barkas to cement his place in the Celtic starting eleven under new management should the opportunity arise.
