The Celtic rumour mill was buzzing last night with two stories about a possible one-in-one-out scenario at Celtic Park this coming January transfer window. Giorgos Giakoumakis is supposedly unhappy with the new terms offered to him by the Celtic heirarchy and will be actively pursuing a move away from the club apparently.
There’s the slight matter of his current contract which runs to 2026 that seems to have been overlooked in this assertion but it is a significant factor that will allow Celtic to determine if and when the player leaves.
Like Josip Juranovic, it is believed that both men are not seeing eye-to-eye on terms of the salary being put forward by the board. Now whether or not that is true remains to be seen. For now it remains rumours but as we have seen Ange move to bring in Ally Johnston from CF Montreal, it could mean there is substance to the transfer stories.
Ange is currently looking for a striker anyway and the story about Giakoumakis has fuelled speculation further that South Korean forward Cho Gue-sung is the man that Postecoglou would like to see arrive to bolster his already potent attacking line. He knows the player from his time in Asia with Yokohama F. Marinos and will have watched as Cho fired two goals into Ghana at the World Cup in Qatar.
Scottish Daily Express have now reported that European competition is strong for the Korean Republic centre forward and that comes most prominently from Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund. The 1997 Champions League winners have asked former player, Lee Young-pyo about his profile and personality.
If Dortmund do step up their pursuit of the South Korean internationalist, it could be very difficult for Celtic to pull off this deal. However, with news about Giakoumakis circulating, a striker may be more of a neccesssity than expected. So if we were to move quickly as Ange has done in the past, we could manage to achieve another transfer coup.
Paul Gillespie
