Neil Lennon seems to have all but confirmed that Scott Bain will continue in goals for Celtic against Sparta Prague in the Europa League and Vasilis Barkas will stay on the bench, BT Sport reports.
Bain has taken the place of Vasilis Barkas in the last three games. The Hoops boss sees ‘no reason’ why he should make a change at the moment, but he admits that the situation could change in the future.
“Nothing to warrant being left out”
“He has played very well and I don’t see any reason to change that at the minute. Scott has done nothing to warrant being left out of the team at the minute. That may change as the season goes on but at the minute I am quite happy to go with Scott because he is playing very well” Lennon said, as quoted by BT Sport.
That has to be a bit of a setback to Celtic’s £4.5m summer signing Barkas. It seemed that he was going to be the first-choice goalkeeper this season when he arrived from AEK.
However, after suffering an injury against Milan, he has lost his place in the side. It is too early to write him off, but he will have to do a lot to overcome what could be considered a mistake in the loss to Rangers last season.
Duo will battle it out to be first-choice
You have to imagine that Bain and Barkas will battle it out for the goalkeeping position for the rest of the season. There is no need for Celtic to address the position in the January transfer window.
Conor Hazard is currently third choice goalkeeper. Whilst Ross Doohan will return to the club from Ross County at the end of the season.
Therefore, unless there is a season-ending injury to befall one of the players, it will be the Bain against Barkas battle.
It is too early to suggest who is going to win such a battle. However, Bain is currently in the driving seat, and it might well stay that way for a while yet.
In other news, 300 fans can attend Ross County’s next Premiership fixture.
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