Tonight we’ve gotten the first of the unwanted stars off the wage bill.
Barkas is heading to Holland to the Dutch club Utrecht. It looks at the moment like a one season loan, although I would imagine there is an option to buy. We won’t be hard to deal with.
Getting him of the wage bill was paramount.
He’s been a flop. But our fans will definitely wish him well and hope that he does a good job at his new club.
The Dutch league is a great place for him to go and get back on his feet.
It might even help us get some cash for him, although I think he’s probably near enough the end of his contract that this wouldn’t be a necessary requirement. He has played his last game for Celtic.
He goes down as a major mistake, but one we’ll get over.
Barkas cost us a big transfer fee and never remotely looked as if he would live up to it. But this is the thing with a club like ours; we can take a huge hit like this and move forward.
Others aren’t as well run or as able to absorb such a blow.
Whatever went wrong with this big guy, I am convinced that he’s a half decent keeper.
He arrived with a far better pedigree than any form he showed whilst at Parkhead. He was the target of an appalling, and unrelenting, media campaign … he is well clear of it all now.
We won’t get our money back if this guy goes to Holland and is a success, but I hope that he does it anyway because he didn’t deserve the way our media treated him. I want to see this guy go on and do well.
I want to see him get his career on track.
All the best to you Vasilis Barkas … do yourself proud big guy.
”Vasilis Barkas leaves Celtic on loan once again – but still has two years of contract remaining”
That’ the headline from the Scotsman online regarding Barkas.
First off, he hasn’t been on .loan while at Celtic.
Also, why put that he still has 2 years remaining of his contract?
Is it meant to be a dig that he will be back?
The author of the piece is Mark Atkinson, and there is a real whiff of hun reeking off of him.
Should say, not been on loan before while at Celtic
He arrived 2020. I think he is contracted for 5 years? It would be interesting to know if there is an agreed fee in place. If he does well who knows?
Sometimes good players come through the door of Paradise and for whatever reason it just doesn’t work out for them. He’ll move on and hopefully get his career back on track and show us what we might’ve had in an alternative reality. Kind of like Pukki did at Norwich.
C’est la vie…
I feel sorry for the big guy. He arrived at Celtic at a bad time when half of his new team mates were trying to work their ticket out of the club and managed by someone who was clueless. What chance did he have?I’m sure there’s a keeper in there so good luck to him and I hope he does well
When it was first mentioned that Celtic were interested in Barkas I did the usual and went onto YouTube to watch videos of his skills etc. I was horrified. It looked like he was too slight and couldn’t catch a ball never mind command his area. I couldn’t believe it when they paid £ 5 million for him when it was obvious he was not a goalkeeper. Who was responsible for buying him?
Celtic have never had an “eye” for a good keeper and have struggled since Stein “discovered” Ronnie Simpson. There have been a few good ones such as ” The Holy Goalie” and “the Wall” but few and far between with the many disasters like Bonner and Douglas, probably too of the worst.
Even the gentleman Hart for all his skills doesn’t command his area and seems to be missing at crosses.
Depressingly, “Rangers”, new and old, seem to find them growing on trees.
Agreed. But these guys get paid the big bucks so should be tough enough to handle the flack. He got his dodgey keeper reputation playing for that bloody awful Lennon side that cost us the 10. Perhaps if we had persevered with him between the sticks this season he could have come good. But it was too much of a risk – big Joe came to the rescue and we all love that man. But no harm to Barkas. I hope he does a turn in Holland and proves everyone wrong. Although, of course, if he does do that then the Record will only use that as a means to have another snide dig at Celtic.