£6.5m wasted: Celtic were rinsed dry by “awful” flop who had his contract terminated – opinion

Celtic will be on the search for a new goalkeeper during the summer transfer window after Joe Hart confirmed that he is going to retire at the end of the season.

The 36-year-old shot-stopper was signed by Ange Postecoglou on a permanent deal from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2021, and has been a fantastic servant for the club.

Hart started 72 of the club’s 76 Scottish Premiership matches between the 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns as the Hoops won the title in both seasons.

Celtic had much less success, however, with the big flop the former England international replaced at Parkhead just under three years ago – Vasilis Barkas.

How much Celtic paid to sign Vasilis Barkas

In the summer of 2020, former Hoops manager Neil Lennon swooped to sign the shot-stopper from Greek side AEK Athens for a reported fee of £4.5m, along with £1m-per-year in wages.

The move did not go to plan for any of the parties involved, though, as Barkas failed to nail down a regular spot in the starting XI for the Scottish giants.

He started nine of the club’s first ten Premiership matches but then went on to spend 16 games on the bench and only played five more times.

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.

How much Barkas cost Celtic in total

The Hoops sent him out on loan to Dutch side FC Utrecht for the 2022/23 term, and it remains unknown as to how much they contributed to his wages.

If they paid his wage in full, Celtic saved £1m last season but still paid £2m in salary to the left-footed flop for his first two years in Glasgow, on top of the £4.5m fee they paid AEK to sign him in 2020.

The Scottish giants then terminated his contract one year early, having initially signed a deal until 2024, in the summer of 2023 to allow him to sign for Utrecht on a free transfer.

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 £6.5m – in transfer fees and wages combined – and failed to prove his worth on the pitch before having his contract terminated early.