Vasilis Barkas

Vasilis Barkas (Greek: Βασίλης Μπάρκας; born 30 May 1994) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Celtic and the Greece national team. He was born in the Netherlands.

Vasilis Barkas
Personal information
Full name Vasilios Cornelius Barkas
Date of birth (1994-05-30) 30 May 1994
Place of birth Zetten, Netherlands
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Celtic
Number 1
Youth career
2006–2013 Atromitos
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2016 Atromitos 13 (0)
2016–2020 AEK Athens 80 (0)
2020– Celtic 1 (0)
National team‡
2012–2013 Greece U19 6 (0)
2015–2016 Greece U21 8 (0)
2018– Greece 10 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 July 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 September 2018

Club career

Atromitos

Barkas signed a professional contract with Atromitos in the beginning of 2013–14 season. He made his debut on 20 May 2015 against PAOK, getting in 83rd minute of the game as a back-up for Andrey Harbunow. In the 2015–16 season didn't start so good for him as he was the back-up goalkeeper. On 30 January 2016, he started as regular against PAOK making an excellent appearance.[1] After that, he became the first-choice goalkeeper of the club.[2]

AEK Athens

When the 2015–16 season ended, Aston Villa, Olympiacos, PAOK and AEK were interested in signing the player.[3] On 9 June 2016, he preferred to join AEK.[4][5] The officials of AEK decided to not complete the transfer of Georgian international goalkeeper Giorgi Loria and start 2016–17 season with Giannis Anestis and Barkas duo. The new manager of the Greek club, Temur Ketsbaia, finally chose to abandon the case of his experienced compatriot, because the 25-year-old Anestis and 22-year-old Barkas are equally talented and have proved their quality in Superleague and Greek Cup. On 27 November 2016, in a 3–0 home win against Platanias Barkas made his debut with the club.

On 20 July 2017, Barkas suffered serious injury during the training, when he broke the thumb of his right hand. He will remain out of action for three months and will miss the upcoming 2017–18 UEFA Champions League qualifiers against CSKA Moscow, where Giannis Anestis is expected to take his place.[6] On 29 November 2017, he recovered from his injury taking his place in the team as a starter in a 3–2 away Greek Cup win against Kallithea, after Giannis Anestis was frozen out and shared goalkeeping duties with Panagiotis Tsintotas in the Super League while participating in all knockout cup fixtures.[7]

On 7 June 2018, Barkas agreed to a contract extension with AEK, until the summer of 2022.[8] On 22 June 2018 the administration of the team rejected a €6,000,000 offer from Udinese, asking for a minimum fee of €10,000,000.[9] Since coming back from injury, Barkas' form was a highlight for AEK and he made some very impressive saves in the qualifiers against Celtic and MOL Vidi in the UEFA Champions League preliminary rounds. During his 2018–19 season, Barkas made 41 appearances across all competitions, conceding 34 goals and tallying 22 clean sheets, his best season so far.

On 10 August 2019, Montpellier made two official offers for the Greek international, but AEK rejected both of them, setting a price tag of €8,000,000.[10] In the 2019–20 season, the 25-year-old has registered 10 clean sheets in 20 games of the domestic championship, helping AEK recover from a disastrous start to the campaign.

Celtic

In July 2020, Celtic paid AEK Athens a £5 million pounds fee plus future incentives.[11] Barkas signed a four-year contract with the Scottish Premiership club[12] after Fraser Forster turned down a return to Celtic.

International career

Barkas has played for Greece U19 and Greece U21, making six appearances for U19 and 8 for U21. Οn 4 June 2016, he was called by Michael Skibbe in the Greece national football team after Orestis Karnezis was injured for the friendly games against Australia.[13] On 16 March 2018, he was called up to the Greek national team for the friendly matches against Switzerland on 23 March 2018 and Egypt on 27 March 2018. On 27 March 2018, he made his debut against Egypt as a second-half substitute.

Career statistics

Club
As of 16 July 2020
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Atromitos 2014–15 Superleague Greece 1000——10
2015–16 12080——200
Total 13080——210
AEK Athens 2016–17 Superleague Greece 2101000—220
2017–18 508020—150
2018–19 26050100—410
2019–20 2800040—320
Total 800140160—1100
Celtic 2020–21 Scottish Premiership
Total
Career total 930220160001310

Honours
AEK Athens
  • Superleague: 2017–18

References
  1. "ΠΑΟΚ - Ατρόμητος 1-1". www.contra.gr.
  2. "Προγνωστικά Στοιχήματος | Όλλα για το Στοίχημα". SentraGoal.
  3. Μαρ. 2016 15:59, Επιμέλεια: Δημήτρης Σαμόλης Δημοσίευση: 09. "Και οι Άγγλοι για Μπάρκα, τι ισχύει με Άστον Βίλα". www.sport24.gr.
  4. "Σπανός: «Συμφωνία με ΑΕΚ για Μπάρκα»!". sport-fm.gr.
  5. "Φτου σας υποκριτές, τώρα θυμηθήκατε την Κορακάκη;". Sportdog.gr - Αθλητικά Νέα | Ειδήσεις | Sport.
  6. Ιουλ. 2017 22:04, Επιμέλεια: Βαγγέλης Αρναούτογλου Δημοσίευση: 20. "Σοβαρή ζημιά ο Μπάρκας". www.sport24.gr.
  7. Μπάρκας: «Ελπίζω να γίνω ξανά βασικός»
  8. "Στην ΑΕΚ μέχρι το 2022 ο Μπάρκας". Η Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών.
  9. ""Όχι" σε 6.000.000 ευρώ για Μπάρκα από Μελισσανίδη!" (in Greek). Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  10. ΑΕΚ: Διπλό όχι σε Μονπελιέ για Μπάρκα. www.sport24.gr. 10 August 2019.
  11. Mark Hendry. "Vasilios Barkas 'on verge of four-year Celtic deal' as AEK Athens 'accept £5million+' for goalkeeper". glasgowtimes.co.uk. Online. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  12. "Vasilis Barkas: Celtic sign Greece goalkeeper from AEK Athens". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  13. Εθνική Ελλάδας: Άσχημα νέα με Καρνέζη – Κλήθηκε ο Μπάρκας
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