Vasilis Barkas agrees Celtic 'release' as £4.5m flop keeper finally brings nightmare Hoops spell to a 'close'

Vasilis Barkas has reached an agreement to bring his Celtic nightmare to an end, according to a report in Greece.

The 29-year-old has suffered a nightmare spell on the books of the Hoops after he was signed for a significant £4.5 million fee from AEK Athens to fill the gloves of Fraser Forster after his loan spell at the club ended. But things never worked out for the Greek goalie who suffered a woeful debut campaign as Celtic's catastrophic bid for 10-in-a-row ended in disaster and he was shunted down the pecking order.

Ange Postecoglou then recruited Joe Hart who has been No. 1 and Barkas was shipped out on loan to Utrecht where he has started to rebuild his confidence and his career. Utrecht sporting director Jordy Zuidam recently said that couldn't make a deal work financially to sign Barkas permanently due to the "huge" transfer fee it would take.

However, SportTime in Greece now say that Barkas has reached an agreement to be released from the remaining year of his Celtic deal with the champions - who recently handed Scott Bain a new deal - keen to cut him from the wage bill.

They say: "Things didn't go as he expected at Celtic, but this chapter is ready to 'close' for the Greek goalkeeper. According to our sources, he has has found a formula and will be released by Celtic, who desperately wanted to 'save' on the last year of his contract."

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