Duncan Castles has claimed Celtic have opened negotiations with VVV Venlo over a permanent move for their top goal scorer Georgios Giakoumakis.
This transfer has come out of the blue and as always, we try to do a crash course in any players who might be heading in the door.
We called upon recruitment & video analyst Marc P. Lamberts [@lambertsmarc] to give us the lowdown on the Greek striker.
What type of striker is Georgios?
Georgios Giakoumakis is a versatile striker, he has shown that in the last season with VVV-Venlo. The club was relegated at the end of the season, but Giakoumakis crowned himself as top-scorer of the Eredivisie 2020/2021 – leaving behind some great names from Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord.
He has played the majority of the games behind the ball with low possession of the ball, so he needed to be good with space in front of him. Attacking from the break and making the his own chances.
He is not the quickest, but he is strong, has good link-up play and knows how to pick out a team mate, when he doesn’t opt to shoot himself. Both feet are good and while his heading was regarded as one of his weaker things, he improved a lot and scored great goals against Vitesse at home last season.
Best suited formations
He played in a 5-3-2, 4-3-3 and in a 4-2-3-1/4-1-4-1, in which he was the strongest in a 5-3-2/3-5-2 and in the the 4-2-3-1 system. He drops down deep to hold the ball in order for other attacking players to progress, but he is also versatile enough to play with a more static striker in a two-man striker system. Very good in the six-yard box and knows how to read his opponent well, 1v1’s are extremely dangerous for the opposition.
Suitability to play in SPFL
It’s hard to compare leagues, as these are two different countries with different football philosophies. I’m confident, however, that Giakoumakis is good enough to go from a Eredivisie relegation team to a team contending for the title. He might not be at that level immediately, but after adjusting and using the qualities around him, I think his potential can be reached with Celtic.
Suitability for Celtic’s new style under Ange Postecoglou
It’s important to stress that this is a player who thrives from chaos on the pitch rather than structure. A very dominant passing based team with clean attacks, might have to invent how to use him properly.
If there’s more chaos in the attacking third and there is use of movement/runs into the penalty area, compared with deep crosses – you will have a player that will fit instantly.
Marc done a very in-depth piece for Zonal Pressing on the striker that’s also well worth a read.
From what we’ve gathered so far, there’s no guarantee Georgios would be an instant hit with the club even though he scored 26 goals in the Dutch top flight last season in just 30 games.
Celtic are a team who are in control and Ange has brought a lot of structure to the side already where things are done in a specific and deliberate manner to get at the opposition.
Georgios is clearly someone who can find the net and that can’t be overlooked but is he an impact player, or a forward with Europe in mind when Celtic might need a bit of chaos?
Top scorer in the Dutch senior division? Why are no senior teams in Holland taking an interest? No interest from Belgium and Germany either? Seems strange.