Greek Report: Gus Poyet eyeing up important role for Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis

By David Walton

May 29, 2022

Giorgos Giakoumakis is one of the players to have been assigned vital roles under Gus Poyet in Greece, according to Greek newspaper Kathimerini.

The Athens-based outlet states that Poyet will use Giakoumakis to help try and find solutions with their goalscoring woes. Midfielder Emmanuel Siopis and forward Anastasios Bakasetas have also been named as key players for the Greek boss.

Poyet started Giakoumakis in his first ever game in charge against Romania back in March. The Celtic striker netted a wrongly disallowed goal. He then made a cameo appearance against Montenegro in another friendly encounter.

But Kathimerini report that he’s been assigned a crucial role under Poyet for the upcoming Nations League fixtures in June. Greece kick off their schedule away to Northern Ireland on June 2nd before games against Kosovo [x2] and Cyprus respectively.

Giakoumakis is coming off a stunning 2022 with Celtic after netting 16 goals since the turn of the year. He finished the campaign as the joint top scorer in the Scottish Premiership too as he eyes up another big impact at international level.

All eyes then on whether he starts the game in Belfast on Thursday night as Greece’s new campaign gets underway.

Giorgos Giakoumakis assigned important role as Greece opportunity awaits

Yet more exciting times lie ahead for Giakoumakis it seems. The opportunity to lead his country into battle and get them back amongst qualifying for major competitions again is surely a big incentive for him heading into the summer.

As much as he came close against Romania, he’s still looking for his first goal for Greece since his debut against Cyprus back in November 2020. He’s still on the hunt for his first competitive goal for them too.

Poyet appears to like Giakoumakis. That’s been shown already. He’s given him plenty of game-time since he arrived as manager whilst the player has only gotten stronger since then.

It will be fascinating to see how Giorgos copes at international level. Given the quality of opposition in the June camp, you have to fancy the former VVV-Venlo man to do some damage if Poyet is going to invest some trust in him.

Make no mistake – Giakoumakis is the in-form striker in the Greece camp. He’ll likely be the most confident too. Given he’ll be featuring in the UCL next season, he has to fancy getting that number 1 striker jersey for himself.

All the best to Giorgos next month, seemingly with a major part to play over the coming fortnight.

In other news, Craig Levein left absolutely wowed by Anthony Ralston’s Celtic renaissance