All the signs are that Giorgos Giakoumakis may not be a Celtic player come the end of the window.
Whether the full story will ever emerge is unknown but my understanding is that his agent was exploring options regarding improving his contract but could not reach agreement with Celtic.
As SPFL joint top scorer last season, Giakoumakis is undoubtedly in a strong bargaining position and at 28 years old, who would blame him for looking out for himself and his newly grown family.
What all will have learned from this is that the manager, Ange Postecoglou, has a rigidly binary view on footballers and their futures.
Either you are all in 100% committed, or you are not. And if you are not, then it is shake hands, “all the best, mate” and off you go. It also appears there is no walking back from that.
Whether another club can meet Celtic’s demand or indeed the players by the end of the transfer window is of course to be seen.
My understanding was Celtic were looking for a third striker in this window and that new recruit Oh Hyeongyu would compliment the first choice Kyogo Furuhashi and back up Giakoumakis.
Whether Giakoumakis is sold, and the club decide Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada provide adequate striker cover is another one to be seen.
But back to Giakoumakis.
At his age he probably wants more first team starter minutes and more money given the short career.
The shame of it is that as I showed in Friday’s piece Five Sub Rule Brings Unexpected Dividends is that for certain players, even if you do not start, there is much glory to he had off the bench.
And no one is more effective than the Greek striker.
Giakoumakis averages 0.73 per 90 minutes expected goals and assists as a starter which is decent. However, as a substitute, this goes up to a whopping 2.15 xSC per 90m, an incredible return.
He really is Celtic’s Super Sub!
The term Super Sub was first coined in reference to Liverpool’s David Fairclough in a time when teams were only permitted one change per game. Fairclough was behind John Toshack, Kevin Keegan and David Johnson in a strong Liverpool side of the mid-1970s. Only 61 of his 153 Liverpool appearances were from the bench but he scored a number of important goals in that role.
It is probably not the tag a 28-year-old striker wants, but there is clearly a role here that he fills well to come on and help put games to bed or clinch tight matches at the death.
Only three of his nine goals have come as a sub but clinchers against Heart of Midlothian and in the League Cup Semi Final versus Kilmarnock were noteworthy. But as the data shows, he gets many more chances as the sub.
Whether there is a way forward whereby Giakoumakis stays the rest of this season and continues reap the sub dividend whilst Oh beds in and gets his move in the summer remains to be seen.
But given the new five sub rule, Celtic’s loss will be substantial if he moves on in the next couple of days.
Ryan Malone says
I feel like having 3 multi million pound senior strikers when we inly play 1 up front is a bit of a luxury.
For me, it would make more sense to have a couple of senior strikers and an up and coming young player, whether that’s from the academy or someone brought in.
We’ve seen it’s hard to keep just the two happy – while at the same time having only two that fit the mould is a rsk with injuries and the number of games we play. Although as you say we do have Maeda or even Abada although neither are fully comfortable there.
Duncan says
No one it seems seems to be talking about the Managers role in all of this?
Giakoumakis proved beyond any shadow of doubt that if he gets regular game time and starts games he tends to deliver.
The curious thing is Ange has been very vocal about rotating players in order to keep them both fresh and fir for purpose.
The gap fact he chose to drop Giakoumakis to the bench after scoring in two games on the bounce and then subsequently stick with Kyogo for 4 games without a goal seems to me anyway be the point where things started to break down for Giakoumakis.
He’s more or less been consigned to a bit part player coming on in most games with 20 or so minutes left to go to perform a cameo role to the leading actor Kyogo?
Kyogo who benefits both from regular starts AND the delivery of the first choice wingers in support has all his bases covered whilst Giakoumakis come on often to a changed attack who like him are also attempting to make their mark in a short period of a game which has already found its own pace and groove by the time they come on.
All these stat become a bit irrelevant when you consider the conditions that both he and Kyogo have had to work under.
My guess is he approached the Manager to question this and got short and sweet answer from him.
I’m a lifelong Celtic fan who would be overjoyed to be in a position to play for Celtic but even I would be questioning the motives of a Manager who drops me in favour of another in games where it is blatantly obvious my abilities suit the occasion better than the next guy.
The next guy being a guy who himself has had an extended period where the goals dried up yet he still got the nod over me?
No wonder he wants a move.
He has plenty to offer the right Manager at the right Club.
Ryan Malone says
I’d definitely agree that he’s not been used in some games where his style is more suited. However the manager maybe feels Kyogo’s more suited to moving teams around and stretching the play.
Kyogo also has more scoring contributions as a starter (although maybe with a more consistent run that would be different).
Giakoumakis is much better off the bench than starting going by the data while it’s the reverse for Kyogo so it makes sense from a data perspective (although there’s always caveats and circumstances behind the data).
If Giakoumakis was better on the ball once he has it he’d be my starter but his output is limited. He’s a decent target man for the first phase but not so much link up play.
Damian says
I also don’t think you can underestimate the impact of Kyogo softening defences up for the five-sub attacking reinforcements later in the game. As you say, Kyogo is simply a better footballer than Giakoumakis, and so he contributes more to the technical shock and awe Celtic hit most opponents with in the early part of games. There have been some games which appear to be exceptions to this, but as a general rule, it seems a decent game plan for the manager to have stuck with.
Damian says
It seems to me that the manager knows and accepts the consequences of his decisions. He can’t please everyone and seems content not to try. His team is playing well and winning so he can be happy with his decisions. It may well be the case that Giakoumakis is not entirely happy with them, and so he is perfectly entitled to consider his options. I will wish him well if he goes, as I’m sure the manager will.
Danny says
From the first weeks of this season we have not been converting our chances at the rate we need, for the level of risk associated with our play. That has been most evident in Europe, but plenty domestic evidence as well.
The manager has been clear about the need to improve. I think he has sensibly concluded that you don’t change both strikers mid season, but you can change one. Giakoumakis is easier to swap out. He understandably wants a better contract, but wont become a better player by getting a pay rise.
The emotional intelligence displayed by the manager suggests to me that he is anything but someone who bears grudges or fails to understand player aspiration. He simply takes tough decisions in the interest of his one non negotiable, and that is ongoing improvement.
Of course there is a risk in swapping out a proven striker, but we wont improve by staying the same.
Damian says
Exactly this. Indeed, at 28, he probably won’t get better at all.
George says
Spot on Danny, GG has an annoying habit of diving too much – he’s not sly enough and he offen ruins good chances by opting for the painfully obvious dive
Kent is one of the best in the league at drawing the tackle and shifting the ball last minute – kyogo let us down in Europe they both didn’t rise to the occasion , I would sell either of them to freshen things up, Oh may not be a premium goal scorer but if he can hold his nerve on the big stage it could be a positive
We will alway break through defences in Europe
Just need somebody who doesn’t bottle it