£6m wasted: Why Celtic got it all wrong signing the modern-day Barkas

From signing the likes of Albian Ajeti or Vasilis Barkas in the recent past, the shift into the Ange Postecoglou era was a welcome one in terms of recruitment at Celtic.

For a time, it felt like the Aussie just couldn’t miss with regard to new arrivals at Parkhead, securing a string of bargain deals for the likes of Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley.

Under Postecoglou’s guidance, it really was a golden period for the Glasgow giants in terms of transfer business, with the squad overhauled so ruthlessly and so swiftly in order to turn the Hoops into a truly dominant domestic force again.

To say that momentum has continued since his exit would be incorrect, however, with it only really looking like this summer where Celtic have begun to turn a corner again in that sense.

How Celtic’s recruitment drive fell apart after Postecoglou’s exit

It would be wrong to suggest that every deal paid off across that two-year period, with for every O’Riley there having been an Oliver Abildgaard, or for every Hatate a Yosuke Ideguchi.

The key thing was that there were far more hits than misses, however, something that can’t be said of life under his successor, Brendan Rodgers.

Of those signed in the summer of 2023, Yang Hyun-jun is the only player still at the club, albeit even then, Rodgers had been happy to sell the South Korean to Birmingham City just over a year ago.

Maik Nawrocki and Gustav Lagerbielke were barely given a look-in, with the same also true of Marco Tilio and Hyeok-kyu Kwon, the pair likely to be the answer to a Celtic quiz question, such was their fleeting time in the first team.

Nicolas Kuhn, signed in the January, was a rare success story, but again, the summer of 2024 wasn’t overwhelmingly positive, despite the capture of Arne Engels, with the decision to fork out over £9m for Adam Idah having seemingly backfired.

It was last summer where things truly fell apart for Rodgers, however, having perhaps not received the kind of backing he was looking for, with far too many of those 2025 additions failing to work out.

Why 2025 Celtic signing looks like the modern-day Barkas

For a club where the record transfer fee is still just £11m, small fry in comparison to the Premier League etc, any significant money spent on a player does instantly raise expectation levels.

That was the case with the £5m signing of the aforementioned Barkas back in 2020, although almost immediately the Greek goalkeeper found himself on the periphery, having been replaced by Scott Bain just a matter of months into his debut season.

Error-strewn displays at the start of the following campaign against the likes of FC Midtjylland didn’t help his case either, with Celtic securing a swift upgrade in the form of Joe Hart to leave Barkas as something of a spare part, prior to his initial loan exit to FC Utrecht in 2022.

Failure to make a strong first impression at Parkhead, as Barkas’ tale showcased, really can be fatal, with there ultimately having been no way back for a man who made just 24 appearances in total in green and white.

It’s a very similar scenario with regard to that man Michel-Ange Balikwisha, the DR Congo international proving one of the biggest letdowns of recent times in Glasgow.

Signed from Antwerp on a £5m deal last summer, having been chased over an extended period, Balikwisha looked set to be the successor to Maeda in attack, with the Japanese star attracting interest from the likes of Wolfsburg.

The eventual stay for Maeda immediately put the new man on the back foot, however, even if he was unleashed from the off in the 0-0 derby draw last August.

The Belgium-born forward did register a vital late assist against Motherwell in October 2025, although his last Premiership outing actually came later that month, as he was ultimately frozen out under both Wilfried Nancy and Martin O’Neill.

His only outing in 2026 came against Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup back in January, with Balikwisha doing little to suggest he warranted further minutes.

The key issue, of course, was the confusion over his best role, with Rodgers tipping him to be the solution on the left flank, albeit with O’Neill insisting that he’s not a winger.

Unsurprisingly, it has all culminated in a swift exit for the 25-year-old, with Balikwisha returning to Belgium to join Gent on loan, having registered just two assists in 14 games for the Hoops to date.

Considering he cost roughly £5.7m in fee and wages, having reportedly earned £15k-per-week last term, he certainly falls into that Barkas bracket as a truly wasted, costly signing for the club.

Let’s hope none of the 2026 batch follows suit this season.