Celtic receive major Vasilios Barkas transfer boost

Celtic have received a massive transfer boost in their chase for AEK Athens goalkeeper Vasilios Barkas, with Fraser Forster set to stay at Southampton.

A transfer bombshell was dropped on Celtic earlier this week when news broke out that Fraser Forster is stay to remain at Southampton for the upcoming season and fight for his place in the Premier League side. The Hoops fans were expecting that the English keeper would be keen on a return to Parkhead but as it turns out, he looks more interested in staying with his parent club.

Nobody associated with Celtic probably saw this coming as conventional wisdom would have suggested that he would want to come back having spent the last several seasons rotting on the Southampton bench. And with 10IAR up for grabs, it seemed like a no-brainer. Yet, it looks like Forster has other plans if the reports are indeed true.

As a result, Celtic have had to look elsewhere and one of the most high profile ones linked with the club is AEK Athens goalkeeper, Vasilios Barkas. The Greek is just 26 years old and has already made 10 appearances for his national side. He has also kept 10 clean sheets in 20 games this season.

And Celtic have received a transfer boost, as Barkas’ transfer value lower than first believed. As reported by the Daily Mail, Celtic made a query for the keeper’s transfer and have been quoted a £5 million fee.

That is far lower than the £7.2 million that was believed to be what they were looking for earlier and it looks like the global pandemic has caused his transfer value to fall. And it actually makes sense for Celtic to spend that kind of money on Barkas. He is a commanding presence with international experience and could be a feature in this team for the next decade or so.