Sky reporter: Celtic man Giakoumakis would've cost £8.6m had VVV-Venlo stayed up

By David Walton

September 8, 2021

Sky Sports reporter Anthony Joseph believes new Celtic man Giorgos Giakoumakis would’ve cost €10m [£8.6m] had he not been relegated last season.

Giakoumakis spent one year with VVV-Venlo in the Eredivisie before moving to Parkhead. Despite finishing the top scorer, however, Celtic managed to bag him for only £2.5m [Sky Sports].

This is due to the fact that Venlo were relegated from the top flight last term. Selling their top scorer to help cut costs was always going to be on the cards, especially with the Greek forward proving he was too good for the Dutch second division.

And Sky man Joseph has been speaking on the Celtic Exchange Podcast as he outlined the bargain the Hoops may have just bagged.

“If I was to tell you, Celtic can sign the top scorer of the Eredivisie for less than £2.5 million, on paper,  forget who it is, you’d be saying, yes get him.

“And that’s what they’ve done. He was available for that price due to Venlo being relegated. Had they not been relegated, I was told they were looking for €10 million for him.”

Time will tell if Giorgos Giakoumakis is a Celtic success story

It’s difficult to say whether Celtic have nabbed an astute bargain here or not. Time will tell and only goals will provide the answer we’re looking for.

When you come to Scotland with the reputation of being Dutch football’s top goalscorer, big things are expected of you. That’s the case with Giakoumakis. Celtic supporters are expecting a goalscorer that can rip up the Scottish Premiership.

Of course, it’s important to give him the time to adapt to Scottish football. He’s coming from a totally different footballing environment. He’s arriving into a new culture and way of life too. If he doesn’t hit the ground running, we have to avoid hitting the panic stations.

The Greek forward will hopefully provide Celtic with a presence in the final third. For too long we’ve been without a proper target man capable of holding the ball up and bringing others into play.

Celtic could do with that kind of outlet. It allows us the flexibility to change into a plan B when necessary.

But if VVV-Venlo had stayed up, would Celtic have been able to pull this one off? Reported finances dictate that wouldn’t have been the case.

In other news, Celtic looking for Scottish Government’s perspective on having fans in Betis