Former Greek Super League star Tassos Venetis has hit out at AEK Athens for how they treated Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Giakoumakis is now flourishing at Celtic Park after a fine start to 2022 in which he’s managed to bag 8 goals. The Hoops nabbed him from VVV-Venlo in the summer in a £2.5m deal [Sky Sports].
The Greek had to rediscover himself in the Netherlands after a dismal 3 years contracted to AEK Athens. Giakoumakis did manage 48 appearances in Athens, but only managed 3 goals as he was rarely given any starts [Transfermarkt].
And former Greek star Venetis, who spent 4 years in Scotland with Dundee United and Ross County, has hit out at AEK for not helping him adapt to a big club.
As quoted by the Daily Record, Venetis said: ” When AEK bought him I thought he would make a really big impact. He had a bad injury that left him on the sidelines for a long time. After that he never really got a chance or much game time at AEK. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes but I am not sure how much AEK Athens helped him because it was a big jump going from Platanias to there.
“They didn’t help him to adapt and to switch to a big-club mentality. I was certain he was going to be a big star but he didn’t get much of an opportunity. It ended up not being the right club for him.
“AEK are a big club who need results and they need them now. Giakoumakis didn’t really get his chance and he had a couple of loans before he was sold to VVV-Venlo. It was in Holland where his career has really come to life again when he scored 20-odd goals.”
Giakoumakis didn’t get the break he deserved with AEK Athens
Interestingly, Giakoumakis was on the bench when AEK faced Celtic in the 2018/19 Champions League qualifiers. Of course, there’s a reason many won’t remember him. He didn’t manage to get off of it for a single minute. Granted, he was given a few outings in the group stages.
Loan spells with OFI Crete and Gornik Zabrze didn’t do much for his confidence either. It was only after moving to Venlo did he start scoring regularly once again before eventually catching the attention of Celtic.
But you could say the first half of his debut Celtic season was a replica of how things were for him in Athens. When he wasn’t getting a chance, we were all quick to question his signings. Quick to question whether he deserved to be here.
Some still aren’t fully convinced of course. You can understand the train of thought that we could do with seeing some tidier performances from the former Athens star. As good as his goal record is, it would be nice to see some cleaner finishes.
But let’s not act as if Giakoumakis has only scored tap-ins or gifts. His hat-trick against Dundee was fantastic as was his efforts against Hearts and Alloa respectively. There’s a player in there and he’s now being given the chance to make a big impact.
Athens’ loss appears to be our gain.
In other news, Ross County coming to Celtic Park without their number 1 goalkeeper
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