Celtic’s injury crisis seems never-ending, but Greek forward Giorgos Giakoumakis should be closing in on an imminent return given the previous timeline given.
Giakoumakis has missed the last 10 Celtic matches through injury. This comes after he played through a knee problem against Dundee last month.
The last time Ange Postecoglou opened up on the player, he gave a firm timeline for his injury return. The manager stated that the player would be out for “2 to 3 weeks” after the 1-0 win over Hearts at the beginning of December.
Since then, Giakoumakis has sat out games against Dundee United, Real Betis, Motherwell, Ross County, Hibernian, and St Mirren respectively.
And today, December 23rd, strikes exactly 3 weeks since Postecoglou provided the timeframe. That means if Giakoumakis misses the game against St Johnstone on Sunday, his omission will have gone on longer than previously predicted.
Of course, you never know whether any setbacks have occurred. Postecoglou has yet to provide an update since that timeline earlier this month. You would like to think we’d have been made aware if there was any reason for an extended absence.
Giorgos Giakoumakis has to be close to a Celtic return
Ange told BBC Scotland last night after the St Mirren stalemate that there were a couple of injured stars who could be close to making it against Saints. You have to wonder whether he was including Giakoumakis in those comments.
In an ideal world, Giorgos would miss the game against St Johnstone and use the winter break to get himself back up to speed. But last night showed us that we can’t take any game for granted. If Giakoumakis is available he has to be utilised given Celtic’s need for some form of focal point in the final third.
Yes, St Johnstone may be bottom of the league and struggling badly this term. But even so, we can’t take any game for granted, not when you take into account our sluggish performances in recent weeks. The injury crisis has hit us hard, and if key players are available then they need to play.
At the very least, he should certainly be back after the winter break. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be fit to face Hibernian on January 17th. The same goes for Kyogo even if he missed last night’s game against St Mirren.
Celtic will be in a much better place by then injury-wise, and hopefully, we can kick on from there and power the pressure onto our rivals.
But with regards to Giakoumakis, the timeline for his return is up. All eyes then on whether he makes the Boxing Day trip to McDiarmid.
In other news, The big-name Celtic summer signing Ange Postecoglou clearly doesn’t trust
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
