Vasilis Barkas endured a difficult time at Celtic after arriving from AEK Athens in 2020.

The goalkeeper struggled to perform after being signed by Neil Lennon for a transfer fee in the region of £4.5m.

The Greek international was given opportunities in the Celtic line-up but was quickly dropped for Scott Bain after errors.

Then, when Joe Hart arrived at the club, Barkas fell further down the pecking order.

The goalkeeper was then shipped out on loan to Utrecht for a season, then signing permanent terms with the club.

While the goalkeeper's move to Celtic didn't work out, Barkas remains grateful to the club for his first taste of football abroad.

And for Barkas, his career in Celtic never kick-started due to Covid throwing normal life out the window with the goalkeeper unable to acclimatise to Scottish life which impacted his mental health and in turn his performances.

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Barkas told World Football Index: “It was a move that excited me at the time, but the timing was unlucky as no one knew that Covid would have the impact on things as it did.

“I went to another country to play outside Greece for the first time and due to the situation, players had to be in different changing rooms and stay apart from each other as much as possible.

“That meant that I was not able to have the connection with my teammates like I had at AEK before I arrived.

“I was also not able to enjoy the simple things such as going out for coffee as you were not allowed to with the Covid rules.

“I felt like I did not have a period to acclimatise to Scotland as I would have liked which impacted on my mental health and then in my ability to perform as I had before.

“People may look at me and say that it did not work out and that is true, but Celtic is a big club in European football, and I always have to thank them for what they gave me as it was my first experience of football abroad and I saw a different football culture.

“Sure, it did not work out for me as I would have liked but that is life, and it cannot be changed.”