Celtic great Chris Sutton has provided his verdict on new signing Giorgos Giakoumakis as we still await him getting up to speed.
Giakoumakis arrived in a £2.5m transfer from Dutch outfit VVV-Venlo [Sky Sports]. The player came to Parkhead on transfer deadline day back on August 31st. But he also arrived without a pre-season to his name.
Over the last month, Celtic fans have been left frustrated at having not seen enough of Giakoumakis. The Greek forward was given a cameo against Bayer Leverkusen, but was then snubbed for Aberdeen whilst Albian Ajeti was given a shot ahead of him.
Even as we get the second international break out of the way, Giakoumakis has still to show what he can offer Celtic. And Sutton wasn’t interested in dressing things up as he addressed the situation in his Daily Record column:
“We now need to see what Giorgos Giakoumakis is all about. It’s fair to say it’s been an inauspicious start. I feel a bit sorry for the Greek striker. He arrived with a big reputation after being top scorer in Holland last season with a team that got relegated. But he’s had nothing but bad luck since.
“He had issues when he landed but then got himself fit and suffered a set back in the warm up when he was about to make his debut against Raith Rovers. Of course that’s a worry. He’s not taken part in much of a pre-season and hasn’t played any games. It’s not a great sign breaking down that early.
“It’s now October and he’s yet to start a game. This last week at Lennoxtown should be invaluable though. He needs to get up to speed quickly.”
Chris Sutton hits the mark; Giorgos Giakoumakis needs to be ready for Motherwell game
Celtic fans have given Giakoumakis time to get himself up to speed. That can’t be denied. There’s patience there as we give the target man an opportunity to get himself a proper pre-season under his belt.
But it’s fair to say that patience will wear thin come Saturday if Giakoumakis still isn’t ready to feature at Fir Park.
Celtic have struggled badly because of his unavailability in recent weeks too. Combined with Kyogo Furuhashi’s September injury, Giakoumakis struggles have led to toothless attacking displays with Ajeti leading the line.
Whilst Kyogo being back has vastly improved the attacking displays, Celtic need reliable cover. Giakoumakis is supposed to be that man. How he uses this current international break will be crucial to whether he’s ready to kickstart his Celtic career on Saturday.
He’s clearly close to full fitness. Considering he’s been in recent matchday squads suggests that. But for whatever reason, there’s still a hesitancy from Ange Postecoglou to throw his summer signing into the mix.
Whatever’s been holding Giakoumakis back needs to end on Saturday. A continued absence from matchday action would be unacceptable at this point.
In other news, “He wastes some of his energy”; Petrov has strong advice for Celtic midfielder
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