Never write someone off early, especially if their name is Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Sadly that is was many did, whether that be because of a certain moment [Livingston penalty miss] or because of the lofty expectations that came with being the top scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie. But those doubters have all been made to eat their own words, and then some.
Giorgos Giakoumakis arrived at Celtic during the summer rebuild of 2021. Due to a poor previous season, leaving fans disappointed, the rebuild was necessary and Ange Postecoglou had to get things right. To improve his forward line he signed Kyogo Furuhashi of Vissel Kobe, who immediately hit the ground running with a hat-trick against Dundee and a few European goals to boot. So when it was announced that Celtic were signing last season’s top scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie, Giorgos Giakoumakis, fans expected the same sort of start from the Greek forward.
His start wasn’t bad exactly, it was more of just a bedding-in period. It’s also hard to have a smooth bedding in period and get settled in a new country and a new environment when you haven’t trained all summer, and suffer an injury almost on arrival. The £2.5 million pound man came on for a few minutes in Celtic Europa League opener against Bayer Leverkusen, a 4-0 home loss. He grabbed his first goal for the club towards the end of October, in a 2-0 league win over St Johnstone at Celtic Park. It was the following game however that would taint his name for a few Celtic fans.
Celtic faced Livingston at Celtic Park, and the stakes were high due to the chance to overtake Rangers at the summit of the Scottish Premiership being up for grabs. The game was goalless up until the closing minutes, and with the crowd growing more and more frustrated as the minutes went on and the chance to leapfrog their rivals slipped away, the Bhoys were awarded a late penalty. Opposed to the usual taker, Josip Juranovic, it was Giakoumakis who stepped up to take it, but his poor penalty was denied by Max Stryjek. This was the exact moment that a select portion of the support wrote of the forward, and the fact he was out injured until meant the sour taste in supporters’ mouths stuck around until he returned, and he returned to shut those doubters up.
The Greek returned in Celtic’s 2-1 Scottish Cup away win over Alloa Athletic, grabbing a goal on his return. He added another goal, this time in a hard-fought 2-1 win at Tynecastle. Then came the derby against Rangers, in which Giakoumakis could’ve easily grabbed a double if not for Alan McGregor. He didn’t score, but he showed what he else he can offer Celtic apart from goals. Another outlet, holding up the ball, throwing himself around and unsettling the opponent. The polar opposite to Kyogo, which is a very good asset to have.
His real breakout performance came in a 3-2 home win over Dundee, really shutting doubters up with an impressive hat-trick, including a late winner to keep Celtic at the top of the table. If that weren’t enough, he further cemented his place in the starting eleven with a double against Dundee United in the Scottish Cup, and yet another hat-trick in the 4-0 destruction of Ross County.
Since the turn of the year, he has been tremendous, stepping in when Celtic needed goals due to Kyogo Furuhashi’s absence and his latest return to the Greek National Team is the least he deserves. His resiliency has to be commended, and the question on fans’ minds now is does Kyogo go straight into the starting eleven? The fact that a player like Kyogo may not make the starting eleven is a testament to Giakoumakis’ quality, and there will be many more goals, and hopefully more trophies to come for the Greek before the season ends.
