The latest on Giorgos Giakoumakis' Celtic fitness

By John McGinley

October 15, 2021

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou is delighted with the progress made by striker Giorgos Giakoumakis over the international break.

The Greek forward was noticeably struggling with fitness prior to the recent two-week window and has made just one appearance from the bench since signing in August.

However, the Celtic boss sounds optimistic he can play a bigger part moving forward, telling The Daily Record: “The rest of the boys just worked hard over the last 10 days, guys like Giorgos Giakoumakis and a couple of others who missed a bit of preparation. They were available but are in better condition now.”

Postecoglou went on to talk further about Giakoumakis.

As quoted by the official website, he said: “It was always going to take Giorgos a little bit of time so I’ve really pleased that we’ve got this two weeks into him.

“I think he’s happier in himself that when he gets the opportunity now he’ll be much better prepared to make an impact, and that’s why we brought him here – to make an impact.

“We really believe he’s got the attributes we need and, again, for me, it just makes the world of difference knowing that with him, Ajeti, Kyogo, Mikey Johnson back, Jota, Liel Abada, and James Forrest not far away, even on the bench tomorrow, we’ll have a couple of attacking players that I can throw on and help us with our momentum late in games, which we just haven’t been able to do before now.”

It’s certainly a welcome set of comments.

Giakoumakis was the top scorer in Eredivisie last term, so definitely knows his way to goal. Hopefully he is now well placed to show that kind of potential in Glasgow.

The last six weeks have been a difficult time for him but he should now have the fitness in his legs to finally demonstrate supporters what he’s all about.

Will he make an appearance off the bench against Motherwell tomorrow?

In other news, Ange Postecoglou delivers a very welcome Friday Celtic injury update.