67 Hail Hail presenter Hamish Carton has warned that Celtic may struggle to sell flop signing Vasilis Barkas this summer.
The goalkeeper was signed for £4.5m from AEK Athens in July 2020, but the deal has been a bust for Lennoxtown executives.
He made just 15 Scottish Premiership appearances during his first campaign, and in Ange Postecoglou’s maiden season, the 28-year-old played just twice in all competitions following the emergence of Joe Hart as the No 1.
His £9k-per-week contract still has two years to run, and although that would normally leave the Hoops in a commanding position to negotiate a healthy fee, it could be argued that the shot-stopper’s stock has plummeted since his Parkhead arrival.
As a result, Carton thinks it will be difficult for the club to find a buyer.
Speaking on the 67 Hail Hail podcast, he said: “Barkas will be on a decent whack. We weren’t able to move him on last year at all, despite several reports at various points saying that he was close to agreeing a move to Greece and Turkey and all of these places.
“It never happened, so I would have fears about that a little bit, whether we’re going to be able to move Barkas on.”
TIF Thoughts on Barkas and Celtic…
Greek outlet Fos reported back in March that the Greece international was looking to move on in order to resurrect his career, but it is safe to assume that the Bhoys won’t recoup much of the record fee they paid for a goalkeeper just two years ago.
He has been described as “awful” by club icon Frank McAvennie, and his howler against FC Midtjylland appeared to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, as his only appearance since then came when neither Scott Bain nor Hart were available as Celtic headed to St Johnstone with a virus-hit squad.