Greek club PAOK are reported to have made an enquiry about taking Vasilis Barkas on loan for next season.
The keeper has had a miserable time since joining Celtic from AEK Athens last summer and is currently second choice to Scott Bain.
Fraser Forster was Celtic’s first choice last summer but when that fell through they switched their attention to Barkas who had impressed in 2018 when Celtic lost a Champions League qualifier to AEK.
It seemed a sound investment to pay out £4m for a 26-year-old internationalist with recent Champions League experience but for whatever reasons Barkas has made little impression on the Celtic team.
Picking up on interest in the keeper The Sun reports:
He hasn’t featured for Celtic since the middle of January and is likely to have no future under expected incoming manager Eddie Howe but he could be given a chance to resurrect his career in his homeland with the Thessaloniki club who currently sit in third place in the Greek Super League.
Celtic know they have next to no chance of recouping anything like their investment for the 26-year-old, who had only nine clean sheets in his 20 appearances for the club in all competitions and also lost his place in the Greek national team this season for the World Cup qualifiers. He still has three years left of his bumper deal he signed when he moved to Glasgow in July.
The deposed champions are hoping to send Barkas on loan instead and there has been interest from clubs in the Netherlands and in Belgium. But PAOK have become the first club to make a firm enquiry about the availability of Barkas and are keen on taking him back to his homeland for next season.
Barkas played away to Livingston in January after self-isolating but was dropped for the following match at home to Hamilton and hasn’t played since.
With Conor Hazard also in the mix whoever takes over from Neil Lennon will have three keepers who’ve had runs in the first team this season without ever making an overwhelming case for selection.