Giorgos Giakoumakis – the Celtic striker signed in the summer wihout a pre-season to his name.
That was something we were all happy to acknowledge. We all knew the Greek forward would need some time to get match-fit after his £2.5m move from VVV-Venlo [Sky Sports]. After all, he hadn’t managed any senior game-time whether it be competitively or even in friendly action.
However, what we didn’t expect was him to still effectively be unavailable nearly a month and a half after signing him.
Ange Postecoglou had to go with Albian Ajeti throughout the course of September because Giakoumakis needed more work. Kyogo Furuhashi had been sidelined with an ankle knock, leaving us desperate to find out when we would catch a glimpse of the Greek to solve our striker woes.
Ajeti’s poor displays coupled with some dreadful team displays and results against the likes of Livingston and Dundee Utd respectively. Celtic being toothless in the final third was a key reason for both of the above slip-ups. Having Giakoumakis back could’ve made a fine difference.
We did get a sight of him in the closing stages against Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night. But he was then snubbed for Ajeti again when we were left chasing a winner against Aberdeen on Sunday. Postecoglou would state after the game that he still needed a bit of work, and that he was looking forward to getting 10 days of training into him [Scottish Sun].
Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis still suffering from fitness issues
But it feels as though we’ve been getting mixed messages when it comes to his fitness. One day he’s available to play for 15 minutes. Three days later he’s nowhere near fit enough once again and gets snubbed for a player who simply doesn’t make any impact.
Celtic fans are growing restless and rightly so. When we said we needed a centre-forward in the summer, we didn’t mean we needed one from mid-October onwards. Giakoumakis has now had more than a pre-season worth of time to get himself match-fit.
Therefore, it’s essential that after the current international break, Celtic have their man fully fit and available. Not just because he’s another option or because he adds an aerial threat to our arsenal, but because we can’t afford to go through a similar period like September and expect to still be in a title race.
If anything happens to Kyogo, we need Giakoumakis there and available from now on. If we come back next Saturday against Motherwell and hear that he still isn’t quite ready, fans will be furious. And rightly so.
This is a big chance for Postecoglou to get his big summer signing up to the required fitness levels.
Failure to do so and it’ll start becoming a bit of a farce.
In other news, Mohamed Elyounoussi talks up his development at Celtic during Norwegian presser
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