Giorgos Giakoumakis has been linked with a move away from Celtic recently. Rumours coming out of Greece have suggested that the striker does not like the weather in Scotland, while talks over a new deal are believed to have led nowhere. As a result, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the 28-year-old.
There is no doubt that he is a key part of Ange Postecoglou’s plans, who has rotated between Giakoumakis and Kyogo Furuhashi up top.
Giakoumakis’ goalscoring record has been stunning since arriving at Celtic as well. According to stats from Transfermarkt, he has scored 25 goals in 51 appearances for the club till now, while playing just 2409 minutes of football in total.
Despite that kind of form, some rumours have suggested that Celtic might be willing to let Giakoumakis go for a transfer fee around £6 million, which sounds pretty low considering the modern day transfer market, the fact that the Greek international is in his prime and the lack of proven goalscorers around. Before coming to Glasgow, he had topped the Eredivisie scoring charts.
Former Celtic star makes massive Giakoumakis transfer prediction
Frank McAvennie believes that Celtic will not let Giakoumakis go in January but will bring someone else in. As reported by Football Insider, he said about the matter:
"“I think he is a good player and I would suggest that he is more than £6m.“With Peter [Lawwell] going back, he knows the prices of things but I do not think they will sell him.“I think they will keep him and bring someone else in.”"
It goes without saying that Giakoumakis leaving in the middle of the season would be a huge blow for Celtic and their bid to win a second straight league title.
Giakoumakis has been a consistent goalscorer for Celtic for quite some time now and if he did end up leaving, the only other recognised striker in the squad would be Kyogo and he does not have a similar profile or playing style to the Greek forward at all.
Interestingly, Celtic have been linked with Cho Gue-sung recently, who does.