By Frank McAvennie

7th Nov, 2020 | 8:00am

Pundit Exclusive: Celtic tipped to bin £5m man & sign proven star in January

Frank McAvennie expects Celtic to sign a new goalkeeper in January after the poor performances of Vasilis Barkas since his summer arrival.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider correspondent Dylan Childs, the former Hoops striker claimed the Greek international should have been able to walk into the team and handle the pressure.

Barkas missed Celtic’s last Scottish Premiership game with a back injury and has failed to win back his place in the Europa League and Scottish Cup since his recovery.

Neil Lennon has instead turned to long-term back-up Scott Bain who kept his first clean sheet of the season in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final win over Aberdeen.

“The biggest plus was the clean sheet on Sunday,” McAvennie told Football Insider.

“I don’t think they like Barkas at the moment so they’ve brought Bain in but I think they will do something about that in January and sign someone proven.

“Unless Barkas comes back in and stakes his claim, but he flaps at it too much for me.

“I do feel sorry sometimes for goalkeepers because it’s not like midfielders when they make a mistake they get away with it.

“When you’re a centre-half you don’t get away with it, as we’ve seen with Shane Duffy, but when you’re a goalkeeper the whole world is against you and it’s a shame.

“Barkas hasn’t really had time to settle but they paid £5million for him so he should be able to walk into it and handle it.”

Barkas has kept eight clean sheets in 14 Celtic games since his arrival from Greek side AEK Athens in July.

He was brought in to replace Fraser Forster who returned to Southampton after spending last season on loan at Parkhead.

In other Celtic news, Kevin Campbell has tipped Arsenal to sign a Hoops star after a release clause reveal.