Celtic pundit Colin Watt has tipped Vasilis Barkas to return to the club’s first team soon.
Watt was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. They talked about multiple Celtic players and one player that Watt talked about was Barkas. He believes that the Greek goalkeeper will make his way back into the Celtic first team soon.
Barkas hasn’t featured for the Bhoys since he played against Milan in the UEFA Europa League. He joined the club from AEK Athens in the summer transfer window for an initial fee of £2.95 million. Scott Bain was brought into the side to replace the 26-year-old.
Do you think Barkas will return to the Celtic first-team soon?
Yes
No
Watt believes that Bain will move out of the team soon and Barkas has been working with Celtic’s goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods.
He said: “I think Barkas will come back into the side now. I think he’s had that breakout he needed. I’m not sure if he’s going away with Greece or not, but he’s had the time working with Stevie Woods, who actually scouted him out personally and chose him.
“That, for me, will hopefully see a bit of return to the form that we know he can bring. So he will quietly make his way back into the side – I think Scott Bain will drop out.”
TIF Thoughts on Watt’s comments regarding Barkas…
Kris Commons had criticised Barkas following his performance in the Old Firm derby last month. Commons said that Barkas has ‘no presence’ and he doesn’t save enough shots for the Bhoys (as per the Glasgow Times).
He had indeed picked up disappointing ratings against the Gers and against Milan in the Europa League.
Due to those performances, it is understandable why Celtic decided to play Bain more often. Having said that, this is Barkas’ first season in Scotland and he might need time to settle in and improve.
So, Celtic fans can only hope that the 26-year-old returns to the squad like a phoenix from the ashes and helps Celtic win the Premiership title this season.