Who Is Vasilios Barkas? The Keeper That Celtic Are Reportedly Prepared To Pay £4m For

Celtic have had a bid knocked back for AEK Athens goalkeeper Vasilios Barkas, according to reports in the Greek media.

It is believed that the Hoops offered €3.5m (£3.2m) plus another €1m (£900k) in add-ons for the 26-year-old but AEK are said to be holding out for a higher fee.

Whether the Scottish champions will return with another offer for Barkas, we shall have to wait and see, but it does appear that the Greek international is now the club’s number one target to replace Fraser Forster.

So what do we know about the keeper? Press the next page as we go through five facts about the player.

AEK beat off Aston Villa to Barkas’s signature

The shot-stopper started out at Atromitos before his talent was spotted by a number of different clubs. Aston Villa were one of the teams reportedly interested, along with Panathinaikos and Olympiakos.

However, Barkas joined AEK Athens in 2016 for around £500,000. He shared goalkeeping duties with Giannis Anesti during his first campaign at the club.

He is a tall keeper but not quite the size of the Great Wall

Barkas is 6ft 5 which means he does have a physical presence about him, which Scott Bain lacks. He is, though, still a couple of inches shorter than Fraser Forster, who stands tall at 6ft 7.

It seems manager Neil Lennon and the recruitment staff are looking for someone with similar characteristics to the Southampton keeper.

Barkas has experience of the big stage

The 26-year-old played in the Champions League group stages for AEK in the 2018/19 campaign, and he has also featured in the Europa League on a number of occasions.

Barkas has experience of international football, having been capped ten times by Greece, making his debut against Egypt in a friendly back in March 2018.

He has been in good form

Barkas kept 16 clean sheets and conceded 26 goals in 33 appearances last campaign, and has established himself as AEK’s number one over the past two years.

He is still a decent age for a keeper as well, and could even improve over the next few years.

AEK’s asking price is said to be pretty steep

It is believed that his club could demand between €7m (£6.4m) and €8m (£7.3m) for Barkas, which is a significant figure, especially in the current financial climate.

After having a £4m bid rejected for the goalkeeper, Celtic will need to weigh up whether the player is worth spending a sizeable amount of their transfer budget on.

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