It’s been a good week for Celtic players with international aspirations, with Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate called up by Japan – and Hatate looking to win his first cap for his national team – alongside Carl Starfelt receiving a Swedish call-up, much deserved based on his form in 2022 in particular, and Tom Rogic perhaps more predictably being named in the Australian squad, and with it a chance to go head-to-head in World Cup qualifying on 24 March with Maeda and Hatate.
One player receiving international recognition that may have been more of a surprise however was Giorgos Giakoumakis, who been rewarded with an international recall by new Greek boss Gus Poyet for this month’s games in Romania and Montenegro.
Giakoumakis already has six caps and one goal for Greece, but hasn’t seen playing time for the national team since appearing as a 78th minute substitute for Anastasios Bakasetas against Spain a year ago.
After a season interrupted by injury and impacted by a lack of a proper pre-season, Giakoumakis has been in superb goalscoring form for Celtic, after foregoing a winter shutdown break to focus on intensive physical training at Lennoxtown. The goals have since flowed and now the hard work has also been recognised by further international recognition.
One person not surprised by Giakoumakis form at club level, nor by his international call-up, is former Dundee United player and teammate Tassos Venetis, who speaking to Daily Record, advises Giakoumakis’ is making headlines back home in Greece for his goalscoring exploits at Celtic and his inclusion on Poyet’s national squad just as he always believed he would.
“I am delighted to see Giakoumakis do so well at Celtic. A lot of what he has been doing has been all over the sports channels and on the internet in Greece. It is like Giakoumakis is back again. It is great to see.
“Giakoumakis is perfectly suited for Scottish football because he is a good striker. He is also big, strong and physical. He has scored a lot of goals for Celtic since he got over his injuries and I believe he will be a very big player for them.
“He is a goalscorer and a match-winner and he can be the sort of player that helps a club like Celtic win titles and trophies. I really believe in this boy that he can make the difference. He is back in the Greek national team as well so that is a mark of how well he is doing.”
Giakoumakis move to Celtic is the second time the Greek striker has made the move to a famous football club and Venetis thinks this time around at Celtic Giakoumakis will be more prepared, after a move to AEK Athens in 2017 went sour due to injuries and a lack of help from his club when it came to assisting him move from a provincial club to a huge club by Greek standards.
“When AEK bought him I thought he would make a really big impact. He had a bad injury that left him on the sidelines for a long time. After that he never really got a chance or much game time at AEK. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes but I am not sure how much AEK Athens helped him because it was a big jump going from Platanias to there.
“They didn’t help him to adapt and to switch to a big-club mentality. I was certain he was going to be a big star but he didn’t get much of an opportunity. It ended up not being the right club for him.
“AEK are a big club who need results and they need them now. Giakoumakis didn’t really get his chance and he had a couple of loans before he was sold to VVV-Venlo. It was in Holland where his career has really come to life again when he scored 20-odd goals.”
Giorgos Giakoumakis is now making up for lost time at Celtic and will now be looking to transfer recent form onto the international stage. And Venetis believes, despite strong competition at international level, there is a place up for grabs, perhaps alongside AZ Alkmaar’s Vangelis Pavlidis rather than instead of him –
“Greece have a lot of good strikers. Giakoumakis is a good player and has a lot of qualities. Vangelis Pavlidis at AZ Alkmaar is the main striker just now but there is no reason why Giakoumakis can’t play alongside him or off him. I think they would make a good partnership.
“Now he is playing regularly for Celtic, he will only grow in confidence and get better and better. The emergence of the real Giakoumakis at Celtic will provide the new Greek coach with a pleasant problem.”
Niall J
