Greek goalkeeper, Vasilis Barkas arrived with then manager, Neil Lennon looking to fill the vacuum created by the departure of both Fraser Forster who returned to parent club, Southampton, and veteran Craig Gordon, who moved on after six successful years with the club. With Scott Bain also worthy of the No.1 jersey, the club obviously wanted competition for the slot and  moved to tie up a keeper who had performed at Celtic Park before – in the colours of AEK Athens who took on the Hoops in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League back in 2018.

‘It’s a dream to come to one of the biggest teams in Europe. Winning medals and trophies is why I came here.’

The keeper’s display obviously caught the eye of the manager and he swooped to deliver the 26-year-old, who had been with AEK for four years and had been capped 10 times by Greece. In doing so, he became Celtic’s second Greek player, following in the footsteps of Georgios Samaras, who spent five-and-a-half years with the Hoops, making 253 appearances and scoring 74 goals. Barkas made his Celtic debut in a 1-1 draw at Kilmarnock in August 2020 and finished the season by returning to the side to keep clean sheets in the final two games of the term, beating St Johnstone 4-0 at Celtic Park and drawing 0-0 with Hibernian at Easter Road. COUNTRY BHOY Vasilis Barkas made his debut as a second-half substitute for the Greece senior side in a 1-0 friendly match victory over Egypt in March 2018. Having previously featured for the national side a both Under-19 and Under-21 levels, he has since gone on to become a regular member of the Greek international squad.

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