VASILIS BARKAS has the mentality to handle being Celtic’s number one, and desperately wants to prove himself abroad for a massive club.

That’s the verdict of Gian Chorianopoulos, Editor in Chief of Greek news outlet Sportime, who has been closely following Celtic’s bid to bring the 26-year-old to Glasgow this summer.

As things stand, AEK are readying themselves for the arrival of a bumper second bid from the Scottish champions after their initial approach was rebuffed earlier this week, with a fee of around £5m plus add-ons believed to be enough to get the deal over the line.

Should that happen, Chorianopoulos believes that Celtic will have landed themselves a goalkeeper coming into the prime years of his career, and one who is determined to show that he can handle the pressure of playing in front of 60,000 demanding supporters every other week.

“I think Celtic is a more famous club than AEK,” said Chorianopolous. “When they play in Europe they want to go far in the competition. AEK supporters are demanding in the Greek league and the Greek Cup, but they don’t expect much in Europe. If the clubs go to the Europa League group stages, that’s a good success.

“At Celtic, the demands are more than AEK, but I think that Vasilis knows in his mind he will be under pressure in every game. Celtic have to win the league, they have to win every game, but I think mentally he’s really close to what Celtic needs.

“He is in the best form of his career. Ok, this was not a good season for the club, because they went out of the Europa League early and they changed two managers. It was a difficult season with ups and downs, but Barkas made some good appearances.

“He had 16 clean sheets in 33 matches, so even though this season was not good for the team, he played well.

“He is playing in the national team and he has improved his game a lot, especially with the ball at his feet. He used to have some problems with that, but he is getting better and better every year with that and in all areas.

“I think he would be a good choice for Celtic.”

As well as the natural attributes that Barkas possesses comes a drive to improve all areas of his game. He has addressed a past weakness in his kicking game, for example, while blossoming into an assured presence behind his defence.

“If you watch any AEK game, you will see Barkas shouting a lot at his defenders,” said Chorianopoulos. “He can be a leader in the defence, he has that inside him, and he’s very good at that.

“He is a commanding presence too, and I don’t remember many mistakes when the ball is in the air. He has good reactions too.

“He doesn’t speak a lot in the media, the most important thing about him is that he is really focused to play abroad.

“I remember when he came from another Greek team, Atromitos, four years ago, he said that he has a goal to go abroad to a good club. He has won the league with AEK, he has played in the Champions League group stages and the Europa League group stages, so I think his motivation is there to achieve his next goal.

“The time is right for him to play abroad, and he is working a lot through practice to improve his game.”

With that in mind, the presence of goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods at Celtic – who has gained a reputation for developing the keepers under his tutelage – will be another appealing factor for Barkas according to Chorianopoulos.

“It is very important that he has a goalkeeping coach that believes in him, because psychologically he is a player who wants to be shown that the staff have that faith in his ability,” he said.

“If a club spends £5m on a player, you know they believe in him, but he wants to work really hard.

“He wants to be number one in the Greek team too, because we also have (Odysseas) Vlachodimos who plays for Benfica, and he has been playing in the national team more than Barkas last season.

“He wants to be the number one, so he is really motivated to work hard to achieve that.

“Celtic having a good goalkeeping coach will be great for him.”

Crucially perhaps for the men in the Celtic boardroom who have to sanction such a relatively large sum to secure the services of Barkas, Chorianopoulos believes the upward trajectory of his career should ensure a rather large profit on their investment down the line.

“He has all the skills,” he said. “We never know what can happen, but why not?

“There are not a lot of good goalkeepers out there. Celtic are a great step for any player to the English Premier League. Every Premier League club is watching Celtic. They know their players and they are targets for English clubs if they are doing well.”