‘Awful’ – Former Celtic star blasts big money summer signing

The former Celtic star has blasted the club’s recruitment team for spending big money to sign the player in the summer transfer window.

Not too many players have stood out for Celtic this season. But even then, it is safe to say that their summer transfer arrivals have been particularly disappointing.

There was a great feeling about things when the window had concluded. The club had managed to bring in five new faces either permanently or on loan while also extending the loan deal of Mohamed Elyounoussi for another season. Most of them have turned out to be flops though.

Diego Laxalt has done decently well and is the first choice left-back or left wingback at the club right now. Mohamed Elyounoussi has perhaps been the best Celtic player this season till now. And David Turnbull is starting to look like a player-and-a-half after a slow start to his Parkhead career.

Shane Duffy, Albian Ajeti and Vasilis Barkas have been very disappointing though. And it is perhaps the signing of the Greek goalkeeper that hurts the most. He looks to have already fallen down the pecking order and Frank McAvennie has described him as ‘awful’.

As reported by Football Insider, the former Celtic man said:

"“My God, Barkas is awful.“I feel for him though because the boy has come in, made a mistake and then realised how big a club Celtic is. He has been getting slaughtered from pillar to post.“The recruitment at Celtic needs to be looked at because it has not been good enough, Barkas included.”"

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The Hoops had tried to bring back Fraser Forster on another season long loan from Southampton. But that move fell through when the keeper himself rejected the chance to return to Parkhead. And as a result, the club were forced to look elsewhere.

Their search brought them to Barkas, who was at AEK Athens at the time and was a regular in the Greece national team as well. And the recruitment team to decided to shell out £4.5 million to bring him to Parkhead. It is safe to say that that investment has not paid off till now.

It would be a bit too harsh to call him ‘awful’ but it is undeniable that he has not done too much to nail down a spot in the first-team. At the start of the season, not many fans would have expected Conor Hazard to be man between the sticks for the Hoops. But after the last two games, he might be the man at the top of the pecking order.