Celtic flop Vasilis Barkas could be offered an escape route out of his Parkhead hell and bring him back to Greece on loan
The the has endured a nightmare season in Glasgow since his £4.5 million move last summer and hasn't featured for the deposed champions since January and didn't even make the bench in Celtic 's last game away to Aberdeen last week.
But his former club AEK want to bring him back to Athens on loan, according to reports in his homeland after they failed to properly replace him this season. They will face competition from PAOK too, but are hoping Barkas will want to return to the club he was with for four years.
They are sitting in fourth place and keeper Panagiotis Tsintotas has been heavily criticised with AEK conceding 29 goals in 26 games this season - 16 more than champions Olympiacos and then a further 13 more in just six games since their season split.
That led to him being dropped for No.2 Georgios Athanasiadis, but he conceded seven goals in two games to Olympiacos too and AEK want a replacement.
Manager Manuel Jimenez, who is now on his fourth spell as AEK boss, wants to get Barkas back for next season, but will have to negotiate a loan deal with Celtic.
Barkas kept only nine clean sheets in his 20 appearances for the club in all competitions and also lost his place in the Greek national team this season for the World Cup qualifiers. He still has three years left of his bumper deal he signed when he moved to the then Premiership champions in July.
