Giorgos Giakoumakis

Interestingly he said he had covid

 

I think that was a given. He was out of the squad for a few games when he was on fire at the time.

 

Ehhh, I completely missed that as the reason why he was out for a while.

 

Gonna put my hand up and admit I wrongly doubted him. Thought he was a bit too bull in the china shop, lacked the close control and didn’t have the minerals to play here after missing the penalty. How wrong I was to doubt him. In fact I think the refs treat him too harshly, almost as though they feel sorry for the opposition defenders when he bully’s them, like a 16 yo kid bullying a 10 yo.

Good stuff big man!

 

Wants to end his career at Crete, really need to get here, big Gia hailsbfrom Heraklion, as does one of my all time favs, big Sammy.

 

Can’t wait to see him for a full season! He’s going to be unreal

 

GIORGOS GIAKOUMAKIS has revealed he was motivated to prove he was no one-season wonder at Celtic.

The Greek frontman netted a stunning 26 goals for relegated VVV Venlo in the 2020-21 campaign to finish the Dutch top flight’s top scorer — and earn a £2.5million summer switch to the Hoops.




Giakoumakis, however, would endure a nightmare first half of the season due to injury and illness and the cynics were quick to line up and brand him a dud.

They were convinced what he’d done in Holland was a flash in the pan.

But the 27-year-old, with just one goal in those tormenting opening months in Glasgow, showed what he was made of by fighting back in blistering fashion, netting 16 Celtic goals from January including two hat-tricks.

He finished joint-top league scorer with Ross County’s Regan Charles-Cook and is going into this close-season break in a great frame of mind.



Giakoumakis said: “When you are doing such a thing as scoring that amount of goals and your team gets relegated then it’s not normal to score 26 goals. Last season I went home in the summer to spend my holidays and I was not happy.



I was top scorer in the league and I knew I would probably have a transfer — but I wasn’t happy. So this year I’m top scorer with goals that helped to win the title.

“Now I feel that this is complete and I wish to do it again next year.

“I am proud because I had a really difficult first six months.



The first part of the season was not what I expected.

“I had an injury. I had a lack of pre-season and so I didn’t play that much.

“To end as the top scorer in the league is something really important for me.


I’m really happy with that and I wish we had ten minutes more because I don’t like to share!

“I need to be healthy. Whenever we start the season I always pray to * to be healthy so I can be fit and be myself. If I can be myself I can score a lot of goals and help the team.

“I’ve never had a particular number in mind.

“Every single game, whether I start or not, I want to score. That’s my target. I hope that next season I can score many more than I did this year.”

A phone call from Ange Postecoglou convinced Giakoumakis to snub other offers and sign for Celtic




I’m really happy with that and I wish we had ten minutes more because I don’t like to share!

“I need to be healthy. Whenever we start the season I always pray to * to be healthy so I can be fit and be myself. If I can be myself I can score a lot of goals and help the team.

“I’ve never had a particular number in mind.

“Every single game, whether I start or not, I want to score. That’s my target. I hope that next season I can score many more than I did this year.”

A phone call from Ange Postecoglou convinced Giakoumakis to snub other offers and sign for Celtic

When I was injured I was putting some pressure on myself because I had not yet proved myself here.

“He just said to me that I needed to stay calm, keep believing in myself and that whenever I came back I would be crucial for the team.”

Giakoumakis is the kind of striker especially dependent on service from the flanks — scoring all kinds of goals with his head and either foot, bundling them in or netting impressively.

There was even an overhead kick in the 6-0 rout of Motherwell last Saturday, the day of the league trophy presentation.



Little wonder Giakoumakis is desperate to see loan idol Jota stay permanently.

He said: “I am happy with every goal, no matter how I score. I told Jota when we were out there celebrating, I said, ‘I wish you’ll stay here because we really need you.’”

 

Will be interesting to see what he can do with a proper pre-season behind him. He certainly will come in full of confidence and justifiably so as he was excellent from after the winter break on. The quality he shows with his finishing was so impressive in particular for me.

 

In jotas ear aswel. Love him.

 

Another call up

 

Do you think Ange speaks to him in Greek a lot? Considering Ange and his family were from Athens originally

 

He could be a modern day Hartson.

Struggled initially to make a mark but as soon as he did.. those floodgates opened and he was just such a great physical player uptop.

 

Yes. Ange's parents don't even know English (like the majority of that generation of migrants to Australia, including my own grandparents) and his mother, sister and eldest son all live in Greece and not in Australia anymore.

 

Watching season reviews of the season, by far the most underrated player during it. Wasn’t until he hit about 12 goals he started being mentioned as important, probably after the Dundee hat-trick.

It was the Livingston penalty, then suddenly key player.

 

Big Zeus as he's known by his team mates. Brilliant

 

Some guy on here tipped him to finish top goalscorer after he came back from his injury and the odds were pretty decent if I remember correctly. If you're reading this tell us how much you won, I'm a nosey *.

 

Heard Taika Watiti wanted him to play Zeus in the new Thor Love and Thunder film but Chris Hemsworth was too intimidated by his body.