Celtic podcaster Allan Edgar has been talking about the club’s chase of AEK Athens goalkeeper Vasilios Barkas.
Edgar was recently present on the latest episode of The Cynic podcast and the panel talked about many things involving the Hoops. Edgar spoke about Celtic target Barkas and believes that the Hoops will not pay too much for the Greek.
Sportime (via Daily Record) have recently reported that Celtic have now made an ‘improved bid’ to sign the goalkeeper and are ‘nearing a fee’ for the Greek 26-year-old, while personal terms between the Hoops and Barkas have already been agreed upon.
Sportime journalist Gian Chorianopoulos had previously reported that AEK Athens are currently looking for a fee of around €7 million (£6.3 million).
When talking about Celtic’s chase of Barkas, Edgar said: “If [AEK] Athens want €7 million, I’m not convinced that we will pay €7 million for a goalkeeper. I don’t think it’s within what we’ll look to do.
Should Celtic pay the asking price for Barkas?
Absolutely!!
Not at all!
“They would need to come down significantly on that. And my worry is that we end up, maybe three or four weeks down the line, making a bad decision on recruitment. Because that’s what happens, that’s always when bad decisions are made – when you’re boxed into a corner and you feel we need to get somebody. That’s what it seems like they feel just now. That’s when you end up giving somebody a three-year deal that really doesn’t deserve one or you overpay or something like that. We know that’s not going to happen.
“So that’s my concern, that we don’t get our number-one target and we end up settling for someone to provide competition for Scott Bain.”
Edgar clearly believes that AEK Athens would need to reduce their asking price for Barkas and only then would Celtic be able to agree on a valuation for the goalkeeper.
TIF Thoughts…
The Hoops seem to have missed out on Fraser Forster, with Neil Lennon already confirming that while a deal was agreed with Southampton, things went ‘quiet’ from the player’s end (via Sky Sports).
But Barkas is a regular for AEK Athens and in the 2019/20 season, he made 33 appearances in all competitions for the club, including four appearances in the UEFA Europa League qualifying stages (via Transfermarkt).
At 26, Barkas has already played in the Champions League and Europa League. In 111 appearances in total for the Greek side, he has kept as many as 61 clean sheets.
This shows that he could be a reliable goalkeeper and offers European experience. So signing him may not be a bad idea for Celtic, especially with the Forster deal seemingly fading away.