Celtic FC have brought in goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas last week and Neil Lennon has already made it clear that the new signing will be his No 1 on Sunday against Hamilton in the SPFL opener.
The club revealed in an official statement: “CELTIC Football Club are delighted to announce the signing of Greek international goalkeeper, Vasilis Barkas, who has joined the club on a four-year deal from AEK Athens.”
Vasilios Barkas played in 20 Super League 1 games during the 2019-20 season and managed to keep 10 clean sheets but according to Alan Hutton, throwing the 26-year-old towards the deep end of the pool from the very start of the season might not be a very sensible decision.
Hutton told Football Insider: “That’s a difficult one, I would say probably, I’d probably say so.
“They’ve been absolutely desperate for a goalkeeper which tells me that they’re not sure on what’s already there, they’re not sure if Bain’s going to be a number one. He’s decent backup but I think they wanted to bring someone else in and he will probably go straight in.
“Look, it’s a risk, it’s like anything – you don’t know your back four or your back three or anything, is he a talker? There’s a whole lot of issues. If it had got to Friday and it still wasn’t done, he wouldn’t have played.
“If he’s got a few days in training, chances are he will.”
Celtic FC have not been able to bring in Fraser Forster from Southampton this summer while Craig Gordon has also moved out of the club on a free transfer.
So despite knowing the fact that using Barkas in goal against Hamilton might not be a very good decision, manager Neil Lennon does not have any other choice.
