Vasilis Barkas has blamed COVID-19 for his failure to settle into life at Celtic after the Greek goalkeeper moved away to FC Utrecht, albeit in a loan deal. The goalkeeper joined from AEK Athens in a deal worth £4.5m in the summer of 2020 but the goalkeeper believes that the restrictions in place as a result of the virus really hampered him.
Speaking to Greek outlet Betatades, Barkas bemoaned the Coronavirus restrictions for failing to become accustomed to the Scottish game and failing to settle at Celtic. However, he also suggests that the management did not support him as well as they could have.
“It all happened very quickly. But then the coronavirus came and the situation was difficult on a day-to-day basis.
“I regretted that decision because things didn’t turn out the way I thought they would. But you can’t know beforehand. What saddens me is that some money was spent on me and I didn’t feel the investment.
“I didn’t feel I was an important part of the team. But it may not even be the team’s fault. It was a Covid year, everything was different. The first six months I didn’t know my teammates, we were in different locker rooms. Celtic is a huge club, but I wouldn’t recommend a goalkeeper to come here.”
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.
Excuses! For 6 months he didn’t know teammates? What about the other year and a half? I would not recommend a goalkeeper that can’t makes saves to come here to celtic. I can’t believe the disrespect coming from a guy who couldn’t keep scott bain or a youth keeper out of the team
“You’ll no dae!” as they say in Scotland! No-one wants to minimise the horrors of that Covid season, but you did have the opportunity, Vasilis. And I would like to know, now that Covid has (hopefully) gone, why you are advising people NOT to come to Celtic?