Pundit Paul John Dykes has recently made a claim about Vasilis Barkas and his status in Celtic’s first team.
Dykes was hosting the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and he spoke about multiple issues involving the Bhoys. He gave his opinion about multiple Celtic players and he also spoke about Barkas’ status in the club’s first team.
Dykes believes that Barkas is becoming a fans’ favourite at Parkhead already.
Barkas joined Celtic from AEK Athens in the summer transfer window and the Hoops shelled out an initial fee of £2.95 million for the Greek goalkeeper. He signed a four-year deal at Parkhead (as per Sky Sports).
Has Barkas impressed you?
Yes
No
Dykes shared some praise for Barkas and he believes that he is the first name on the teamsheet and he will “relish” the chance to play in the Old Firm derby.
He said: “He is the first name on the teamsheet these days, despite the fact that it wasn’t all that long ago that somehow in the Scottish media, they were criticising Barkas, our £4.5 million goalkeeper who we signed from AEK Athens, and he certainly is one of these guys – I can just see in him that he’s becoming a real fans’ favourite.
“I’m not going to liken him to Artur Boruc, but I think he will really love and relish the challenge against Rangers when it comes around.”
TIF Thoughts on Dykes’ claim on Barkas…
Barkas, 26, has made eight appearances in the Premiership this season and in all competitions, the Greek goalkeeper has made 12 appearances (as per Transfermarkt).
In the Premiership, he has picked up a Whoscored rating of 6.67 and his best performance came against Ross County in a 5-0 win for the Hoops.
Only seven Celtic players have picked up worse average ratings than him and it shows that the start to the season hasn’t been overly impressive.
Because of that, Barkas might have to improve his performances for the Hoops and maybe Dykes’ praise for the goalkeeper is a bit unjustified.