Celtic

Celtic: Nick Hammond is Vasilis Barkas’ “No. 1 fan”

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The Athletic has revealed that Celtic Head of Football Operations Nick Hammond is Vasilis Barkas’ “No. 1 fan”.

The Hoops have sealed the signature of Barkas and they have signed the 26-year-old goalkeeper from Greek club AEK Athens for an initial fee of €3.3m (£2.95m). Celtic would have to pay further add-ons on the basis of the appearances that he makes for the Hoops.

The Athletic recently relayed an article about Barkas and they had some extra detail about the signing and how Celtic made it happen. The article reveals that Hammond is Barkas’ “No. 1 fan” but it isn’t clear if Hammond and his team discovered the Greek star themselves or they came across him ‘through Celtic’s scouting system’.

Will Barkas guide Celtic to their tenth Premiership title in a row?

Yes!

Yes!

Too early to say

Too early to say

The piece says that Hammond was a goalkeeper himself during his playing days and plied his trade with clubs like Swindon Town and Reading. The article also states that Celtic had made an enquiry for Barkas earlier this year and made one again after they had been turned down by Fraser Forster.

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Starting with an easy one- apart from Paris Saint-Germain, which other French club did Edouard play for?

TIF Thoughts…

The Athletic has previously reported that Celtic have been ‘monitoring’ Barkas since his AEK Athens side knocked the Hoops out of UEFA Champions League qualification back in 2018. The same piece also compared the 26-year-old to former Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc and said that Barkas currently offers a ‘high ceiling’ for the Hoops.

This shows that Celtic did some background work on Barkas and the move could be a result of how they initially monitored him. Celtic fans can only hope that all the hard work that has gone into this deal pays off in the 2020/21 season.

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European Football Writer. Contributed for FootballItalia, Manchester United, Manchester Evening News, Calciomercato, GFFN and more.