Vasilis Barkas is currently on loan from Celtic, and playing in the Eredivisie for FC Utrecht. In a major contrast to the goalkeepers time at Celtic, the Greek player has put in yet another Man of the Match performance. FC Utrecht came up against NEC on Friday, which ended in a 0-0 draw. However, the game was not without its chances, with NEC having two clear opportunities to score. Unbeatable Barkas stood strong and held his ground and kept NEC from putting the ball past him.
Barkas has now had back to back top class performances for the Dutch club, more than he can say he achieved during his time at Celtic. Celtic spent £5 million on the goalkeeper but were left underwhelmed by Barkas, who quickly lost his space in the starting eleven. His improvement in form has not gone unnoticed at international level with the on-loan Celtic keeper winning an international recall to the Greece squad for the next round of interntional fixtures.
In any case, the continuing rivial of Barkas is good news for the Hoops. Barkas is only on loan for a year, and will be returning to Paradise in the summer if FC Utrecht don’t decide to sign him on a permanent deal. That will allow some funds to come back from one of the poorest signings in Celtic’s history.
Loan Watch 🚨
A second man of the match for Vasilis Barkas at Utrecht after his sides 0-0 draw against Nijmegen on Friday evening
That’s also back-to-back clean sheets for the Celtic loanee, with Utrecht currently sitting in 8th place in the league on 9 points after 7 games pic.twitter.com/q8IGjUMRMW
— Lewis Laird (@LewisLaird01) September 17, 2022
I’m glad that Barkas has found his level because he was in way over his head with us.
He could never have handled the pressure with us. But tgat doesn’t make him a bad goalie, just not good enough for us.