Celtic pundit Stevie Mullen has recently made a claim about the situation of goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas.
Mullen was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. One topic of discussion was Celtic’s goalkeepers and Mullen talked about Barkas. He believes that if the Greek goalkeeper can’t get ahead of Scott Bain in the pecking order, Celtic need to move him on in the January transfer window.
While Celtic signed Barkas from AEK Athens in late July for a fee of £2.95m, he has already been criticised by the likes of Kris Commons. The 26-year-old was dropped for the club’s games against Motherwell, Lille and Sparta Prague.
Should Celtic sell Barkas in January?
Yes
No
Mullen feels that if Celtic do let Barkas go in January, they need to bring someone in who can be the club’s number-one goalkeeper.
He said: “I think he’s got to start. If you’re not going to start him, I’ll say this, and I’ll repeat it again – if he cannot get in front of Scott Bain, we need to get rid of him in January and bring in somebody who can be our number one.
“We can’t have a £4.5 million goalkeeper playing backup to Scott Bain, because it proves that the scouting of Barkas would be 100% wrong.”
TIF Thoughts on Stevie Mullen’s comments regarding Vasilis Barkas…
As many as 17 Celtic players have picked up higher ratings than Barkas in the Premiership this season. He has racked up an average rating of 6.64/10 (as per WhoScored).
This suggests that the start to his life at Parkhead hasn’t been all that impressive. Having said that, the Hoops spent a significant amount of money to sign him and since this is his first season in Scotland, he might need time to settle into the new surroundings, while his rating is better than that of Bain.
Because of that, selling him in the January transfer window might be too early and with time, he might still improve as a goalkeeper.