Celtic target Vasilios Barkas has ambitions to play in England, Germany or Italy

By John McGinley

July 25, 2020

Celtic transfer target Vasilios Barkas has ambitions to play in England, Germany or Italy, The Daily Record reports.

The Scottish champions have been consistently linked with the goalkeeper during the current transfer window.

We’ve discussed in previous articles that Celtic are reported to have lodged a £3.5m bid for the player, which was rejected by his club AEK Athens.

Barkas himself is also said to be open to a move to Scotland, although recent interview comments suggest he has future plans to one day play at a higher level than the Scottish Premiership.

Serie A side Roma were linked with a move for the shot-stopper earlier this year and last month he opened up on the interest.

As quoted by The Daily Record, Barkas said: “There was nothing specific from Roma and there were other teams interested in me too. My father deals with that side of things.

“I am happy at AEK and I am not pushing for a transfer. I am already at a big team.

“If I went abroad, I would like to sign for a club in England, Germany or Italy. It wouldn’t be an easy step but I would like to do it one day.”

At first look, these comments aren’t great news for Celtic.

The Scottish top-flight doesn’t hold the appeal of the top five leagues in Europe and the Greek international clear sees himself as a talent capable of playing at the highest level.

However, you don’t necessarily need to take a negative view.

Over the last decade, Celtic have earned a reputation of being a club capable of improving players and selling them directly to the biggest leagues.

Reported Celtic target Vasilios Barkas / (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)

Moussa Dembele, Kieran Tierney, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk have all helped set that example and it could be attractive to a player like Barkas.

If he truly does see himself as Premier League calibre but wants the guarantee of access to first-team football right now, Celtic may well be the perfect destination to prove himself on these shores.

If anything, his comments are a sign he has the kind of mentality we want at Celtic Park right now.

In other news, Scottish clubs are said to have rejected new SPFL proposals because of Peter Lawwell’s presence on the league board.