Paul Robinson has offered his thoughts on what Celtic should be doing with Vasilis Barkas this summer...
What's the talk?
Former England international Paul Robinson has called on Celtic to sell goalkeeper Vasilis Barkas following his mistake against FC Midtjylland in the Champions League this week.
Robinson has said that the Greek international wasn't good enough for the Hoops last season and has urged Ange Postecoglou to cash in on him and sign a replacement.
“Barkas had a really poor season last year.
“A mistake like that last night and the criticism that has followed, it is going to be difficult for him again. He is already on the back foot going into the season. Barkas wasn’t good enough last year and Bain wasn’t good enough last year. They have not replaced Fraser Forster.
“If they have any chance of winning the title next year they need a new goalkeeper. You need a top goalkeeper to play in big games.
Fans would love it
Celtic must now ruthlessly axe Barkas from the club in the coming months. Supporters would love it and it could potentially improve Postecoglou's team if they could replace him with a better player.
Back in January, Barkas' statistics for Celtic were incredibly worrying. He posted a save percentage of 65%, the fourth-worst in the Premiership. At that point, Jon McLaughlin and Allan McGregor - both at Rangers - had saved over 80% of the shots they faced in the league, showing the gigantic drop-off in quality between the goalkeepers of the two clubs.
Earlier this year, former Rangers and Aberdeen player Richard Foster hit out at Barkas' performances and lamented his displays in relation to his £5m price tag. He said:
"He should be coming in as a number one goalkeeper. If you're getting signed for £5m you should be commanding, you should be dictating to your defence what you want them to do.
"We haven't seen any of that from Celtic, defensively they've been all over the place at times and that comes from having a goalkeeper who clearly doesn't speak. Or if he does, he doesn't tell the players the right things.
"They've lost so many goals at set plays. All the best goalies I've worked with are usually the loudest guys on the pitch.
Therefore, fans would be delighted to see the club move him on in the coming weeks. The comments from the two pundits and his statistics from last season align with the view that he is not good enough for Celtic.
AND in other news, Celtic could repeat their Shane Duffy nightmare by signing "superb" £8m ace...