SHOCKING: £63.5m celtic lost funds by an ‘amazing’ failure; contract terminated.

SHOCKING: £63.5m celtic lost funds by an ‘amazing’ failure; contract terminated.

With the goalie whose contract was cut, the Hoops faced a nightmare.
Premiership,

Barkas-Celtic Wages, and Lennon

Following Joe Hart’s announcement that he will be retiring at the conclusion of the season,

Celtic will be searching for a new goalkeeper during the summer transfer window.

The 36-year-old goalkeeper has been an incredible asset to the team since joining Ange Postecoglou on a permanent basis from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2021.

Between the 2022–2023 and 2022–2023 seasons,

Hart started 72 of the 76 Scottish Premiership games played by the team as the Hoops won the championship in both.
Vasilis Barkas, the massive flop the former England international replaced at Parkhead less than three years ago, was Celtic’s biggest disappointment.

Former Hoops manager Neil Lennon pounced to sign the goalkeeper from Greek team AEK Athens in the summer of 2020 for a reputed £4.5 million,plus $1 million in salary annually.

Barkas failed to secure a regular berth in the starting lineup for the Scottish giants, therefore the deal did not work out as planned for any of the parties involved.

After starting nine of the team’s first ten Premiership games,

he only made five more appearances on the field throughout his 16 games as a substitute.

Scott Bain emerged as the first-choice option for Lennon between the sticks,

as the Scottish goalkeeper saved 69% of the shots on his goal across 18 league outings during the 2020/21 campaign.

Whereas, Barkas, who was described as “awful” by pundit Frank McAvennie,

only saved 60% of the efforts on his goal across 15 appearances in the Premiership,

which suggests that he was not good enough to start over Bain.

Hart was then signed ahead of the 2021/22 campaign and the Greek goalkeeper went on to play just one league match,

in which he conceded one goal and made zero saves, for Celtic that season.

For the 2022–2023 season, the Hoops sent him on loan to FC Utrecht in the Netherlands;

however, it is unclear how much the Hoops paid for his salary.

The left-footed flop cost Celtic £2 million in salary during his first two years in Glasgow,

on top of the £4.5 million they paid AEK to sign him in 2020.

If his wage were paid in full,

Celtic would have saved £1 million last season.

In the summer of 2023,

the Scottish giants then gave him a one-year contract termination early,

having originally signed him to a contract that would have lasted until 2024,

so he could sign for Utrecht on a free transfer.

 

22/23 Eredivisie	Vasilis Barkas
Appearances	32
Save success rate	68%
Pass success rate	69%
Clean sheets	Ten
Stats via Sofascore

 

This means that Celtic did not recoup any money for Barkas when they parted ways with him on a permanent basis at the end of the 2022/23 campaign,

as the Dutch side did not have to pay a penny to sign him.

Therefore, Lennon had a nightmare with that signing as the Greek giant rinsed the Hoops dry of a minimum of £63.5m in transfer fees and wages combined

and failed to prove his worth on the pitch before having his contract terminated early.

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