He’s been on fire lately, and now Celtic’s Greek striker Giorgos Giakoumakis is once again an international player.
Gus Poyet named his first Greece squad, with friendly matches coming up against Montenegro and Romania. After a year of injuries, his big Celtic move and eventually finding fitness and form, Giakoumakis has been brought in to add to his 6 caps [EPO].
It’s his first appearance in a Greece squad since late March 2021. John van’t Schip handed Giakoumakis his first cap, when he was just shy of turning 26. His first and only goal in a Greece shirt came against Cyprus, in a 2-1 and Giakoumakis’ international debut.
His last outing for Greece, a 17 minute cameo in a draw against Georgia, was almost a year ago. That was in the midst of an unbelievable scoring season for VVV-Venlo, who were relegated from the Eredivisie despite Giakoumakis’ incredible efforts.
Now he’s banging them in for Celtic, having endured a frustrating start to life at Celtic. At the time of writing, he’s our third-top scorer with 9 goals, managing a strike ever 118 minutes.
Given his form, it’s hard not to see him starting in Greece’s bold new era under Gus Poyet. Interestingly, Giakoumakis and Poyet have stints at AEK Athens in common, Poyet as their manager, but the two never crossed paths in the Greek capital.
Giorgos Giakoumakis deserves Greece reward for fine Celtic form
Does Gus Poyet read 67 Hail Hail by any chance? Just yesterday, we were extolling the virtues of patience around Giorgos Giakoumakis, saying that waiting for him to blossom at Celtic would reap rewards. That’s certainly what Greek-Australian Celtic boss was preaching, all season in fact.
He’s been worth the wait. Monday night’s performance showed what Celtic have needed – someone who can score ugly goals, the tap-ins that win trophies. Not that he hasn’t got a lovely finish in him; we’ve seen how high-quality his goals can be, specifically against St Johnstone, Dundee and Alloa Athletic.
But Greek striker Giakoumakis gives Celtic a different edge up front. For sure, Kyogo has been our star striker this season. But when we needed regular output, a menace for defences to deal with and someone to aim the ball at from crosses, GG has provided.
Like Carl Starfelt, there was a lot of criticism thrown Giakoumakis’ way this season. How satisfying it is, then, that both summer signings have played well enough to get back to national duty.
Now to add to that solitary goal for Greece, and Giakoumakis can say he turned a frustrating season into a really impressive one.
Read more: Celtic man Carl Starfelt has shown up pundits queueing to criticise him
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