Celtic began their summer business by showing Vasilis Barkas the exit door today. The Greek goalie has joined FC Utrecht on a season-long loan deal, with Celtic confirming the exit in a short Tweet.
Barkas will likely be the first of a few departures in the coming weeks with Boli Bolingoli, Albian Ajeti, Christopher Jullien, Liam Scales and Ismaila Soro all touted with exits this summer. The manager will be looking to streamline his squad and the above group of players will represent a chunk of the wage bill. If they are not contributing to the first team, the manager will be keen to reinvest that money back into the first team.
🇬🇷 🇳🇱 👀
🗨️ '𝐍𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐤 𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐚𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐂 𝐔𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐭!'
👉 https://t.co/RLMthPcPaX#WelkomVasilis #vanuithethart #fcutrecht pic.twitter.com/xGcBadUl0K
— FC Utrecht (@fcutrecht) June 7, 2022
Daizen Maeda’s move from Yokohama F Marinos was confirmed when the window opened; however, that was an obligation on Celtic’s part and there was no doubt that the attacker would sign following an impressive spell. The main two acquisitions that Celtic are keen to seal will be undoubtedly Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota. The club are said to have agreed terms with Benfica for Jota but are continuing to speak with the player. However, with CCV, matters are switched with the player agreeing personal terms but Tottenham stalling on a fee for the player.
For Barkas, he will be looking to get his career back on track after two seasons in Scotland, where he made just 16 league appearances for Celtic.
Barkas has just two appearances last season and found himself down the pecking order at Celtic. The arrival of Hart as well as Scott Bain being given a new deal suggests that the prospect of ever breaking back into the first team is slim. The former £4.5m man will be keen to get his career back on track by sealing a move away from Celtic, it would be in everyone’s best interests if this could be achieved on a permanent basis with some of the outlay returning to Paradise.
It will be interesting to see how Barkas gets on, considering that he was a Greek Internationalist as well as a top performer for Athens.
