Having sealed a £2.5m move to Celtic last summer, Giorgos Giakoumakis’ career at Parkhead did not get off to the best of starts.
Indeed, arriving off the back of a season in which the 27-year-old had scored top scorer in the top flight of Dutch football – the Greece international initially struggled to find his feet in Glasgow, hitting the back of the net just once over his first nine appearances for the Hoops, as well as suffering from a knee injury.
However, since then, the £1.8m-rated striker has burst into life, bagging a further 11 goals over his next 13 outings in all competitions – scoring one goal every 96 minutes of football played for the Bhoys.
This form has seen the £23.5k-per-week forward earn a considerable amount of praise, none more so than from Kris Commons, with the former Celtic winger stating of the 6 foot 1 hitman:
“Giakoumakis will almost certainly lead the line at Ibrox. Right now, he is the most lethal striker in the country. He is a deadly one-touch finisher and, in that particular area, Celtic fans are already drawing comparisons with Henrik Larsson.
“Giakoumakis clearly isn’t shy. You don’t take the number seven jersey at a club like Celtic without the weight of expectation that comes with it. He’s a confident boy who is doing the business for Celtic right now. If he can provide the firepower to win a league title, fans will idolise him.”
Indeed, while the 27-year-old still has some way to go in matching Larsson’s 174 league goals in 221 games for the Hoops, should Giakoumakis go on to cement his spot as Ange Postecoglou’s first-choice centre-forward over the remainder of the season and beyond, the 67-goal Greek machine could very well go on to mimic the Swede’s importance to the Celtic attack.
And, with a season-defining Old Firm clash at Ibrox up next for the Bhoys, what better way to take a step towards achieving cult hero status than scoring the goals that would all but seal the Premiership title for Celtic.
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