Former Celtic striker Frank McAvennie is enjoying what Giorgos Giakoumakis is offering Celtic and has compared him to one of his former teammates.
Giakoumakis scored a hat-trick at the weekend to make in 12 goals in 22 appearances for the Bhoys, the vast majority of which have come in 2022.
He’s provided a genuine poaching threat to Ange Postecoglou’s team, showing off a variety of one-touch finishes from inside the box.
For McAvennie, he’s a throwback to the kind of striker his former teammate Tony Cottee was.
Speaking to The Sunday Mail [21/03 print edition, page 69], McAvennie said: “What I like about the big man is that most of his goals have all been one-touch finishes. Most of them have come inside the six-yard box as well, which is something Celtic have been lacking.
“The classic example was his first goal against Dundee United in midweek – nobody expected their keeper to drop that cross but he took that chance and got his reward.
“Giakoumakis doesn’t care how he scores – he’ll take tap-ins, scrappy ones. For him, a goal’s a goal. He reminds me a lot of my old West Ham strike partner Tony Cottee. He’s down for anything.
“I was a bit like that too. I’d find myself in positions with no idea how I got there but then the ball would arrive. It was just instinct and you can’t coach that.”
Cottee was one of the most prolific goalscorers in England during the 1980s and 90s, starring for West Ham, Everton and Leicester City – so that is high praise indeed.
It can’t be denied Giakoumakis is showing exciting early signs at Celtic. He’s showing the kind of scoring consistency that marked out his VVV-Venlo record as so impressive.
If he can keep poaching goals in the opposition box then he’ll be hard to shift out of Postecoglou’s starting eleven.
In other news, “A day that we will never forget is coming”; Alonso’s reminder to Celtic supporters.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
