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The media narrative of Celtic’s goalkeeper error

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Celtic signed Vasilis Barkas for £4.5m this season. A club record for a goalkeeper.  Barkas is the current Greek number 1 between the sticks and at 26 years old, Barkas still has his best years ahead of him.  The club has taken a fair bit of criticism for their transfer policy in the past by signing “future stars” or “projects”, but on this occasion, signed an established international goalkeeper to bolster the squad as Fraser Forster and Craig Gordon had left the club, so it looked like, at the time, Celtic had done a great piece of business.

There seems to be a narrative in certain aspects of the Scottish media that somehow Celtic have let Craig Gordon “slip through their fingers”,  an unfair narrative built on the fact that Barkas has had a difficult start to his Celtic career in my opinion.

Lets not forget, when Gordon was a free agent and his career was all but over as he recovered from recurring knee injuries, Celtic took a GAMBLE on the then former Scottish international by offering the ‘keeper a two year contract in July 2014, ironically, as Fraser Forster was the Hoops number 1 at the time.

That gamble paid off, as a few months later, Forster signed for Southampton for a fee in the region of £10m. Gordon then found himself as the Number 1 that summer and never looked back.

This season, Gordon found himself out of contract in the summer with Celtic and as negotiations on his contract broke down, the former Celtic ‘keeper cited “an enormous gap” in what Celtic were offering to what he was expecting.  What exactly was Gordon “expecting”?  He’s 37, had made six appearances the previous season and was second choice behind Fraser Forster and his last appearance for the club was against Cluj in December 2019.

Gordon was a fantastic servant to Celtic over the six seasons he was at the club, of that there is not doubt, but Celtic were also good to him.  Signing for Celtic, rekindled Gordon’s international career as he was recalled to the squad in September 2014 for a friendly against Germany, despite having only made three appearances for the club so far that season. Would that recall have happened if he had resigned for any other club outside Celtic or Rangers?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. No one could have foreseen that Barkas would have had a troubled start to his Celtic career, but in all honesty, the defensive issues Celtic have had has not exactly helped the Greek international settle in as quickly as he, and Celtic fans, would have liked.

Time will tell if Barkas will be a success at Parkhead, he’s only had nine appearances for the club in the league since signing. Surely it’s too early to make a judgement call on him at this moment?

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