Former Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis has won the Major League Soccer Newcomer Of The Year Award for 2023 after a vote by players, coaches and media.
Giakoumakis has had a stellar year at Atlanta United, scoring 17 goals in 27 matches for the club. He was nominated for the honour alongside Lionel Messi and Eduard Lowen.
Surprisingly, he’s managed to cut through the Messi hype and be voted as the winner with 45.78% of the poll ahead of Messi’s 27.28% in second place.
It’s the second year in a row an Atlanta United player has taken the honour after Thiago Almada’s win in 2022. Other former award winners include Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2018 and Miguel Almiron in 2017.
Giorgos Giakoumakis has been in excellent form after Celtic
Giakoumakis has been attracting attention all year. He was the second-fastest player in league history to reach double figures, with 10 in 766 minutes of action. He also has the best goals-per-90 record in the division.
The Greek forward was a popular figure with Celtic supporters before his exit from the club. Still, it had become increasingly clear he wasn’t happy playing back-up to Kyogo Furuhashi.
Postecoglou made that pretty obvious in the days preceding his eventual switch to the USA.
It’s not a case of Celtic having regret for letting him go. It was simply time for him to go and make his name elsewhere.
He’s achieved that and perhaps there’s even a big move back to Europe on the cards for him on the back of this season.
Congratulations to Giorgos on his award!
In other news, Brendan Rodgers makes a big point about his players after dramatic Celtic win vs St Mirren.
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