Kieran Devlin of The Athletic has revealed the financial aspects and the salary of new Celtic signing Vasilis Barkas.
The Athletic recently posted an article about Barkas, providing detail and insight into the goalkeeper’s Parkhead move. Celtic have already signed the Greek from AEK Athens for an initial fee of £2.95 million and they would have to pay further add-ons on the basis of appearances.
Will Barkas replace Forster perfectly?
Yes, absolutely
I'm not confident at all
The Athletic’s detailed piece about Barkas added further insight into the transfer. They revealed that AEK have included a 10% sell-on fee in the agreement. They reported that the deal could potentially rise up to £5.43 million. While talking about the salary, the outlet revealed that the goalkeeper will earn around £20,000 a week and has signed a four-year deal at Parkhead.
The piece also said that the Hoops made an enquiry for Barkas ‘earlier this year’ and made another enquiry after Fraser Forster turned down the chance to join them. It is stated that Barkas emerged as a ‘clear-cut’ favourite when a deal for Forster was looking ‘prohibitively expensive’.
TIF Thoughts…
Barkas was a regular for AEK in the 2019/20 season and he made 33 appearances in all competitions for the Greek club. In league competition, he played 20 times and kept a total of ten clean sheets (via Transfermarkt).
The 26-year-old offers Champions League experience and it could come in handy when Celtic play in that competition in the upcoming season. If he is earning £20,000 a week in his Celtic deal, this comes as a much cheaper option as compared to Forster, who is reportedly earning £90,000 a week at Southampton.
With the signing now sealed, Celtic fans can only hope that this goes down as a successful transfer for Neil Lennon’s men.