On Wednesday night, Celtic’s outstanding form continued.
The Hoops moved 13 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, smashing Dundee 6-0; Arne Engels and Daizen Maeda both bagged braces, while Adam Idah and Nicolas Kühn were also on target for the Parkhead side.
Despite this scoring spree, following Kyōgo Furuhashi’s move away, Brendan Rodgers has very limited attacking options at his disposal, with Mark Atkinson of the Scotsman stating that Rodgers “made no secret of his desire” to bring in a striker.
So, will the Celts rue selling a high-quality number nine they had spearheading their attack not so long ago?
It all began back in 2021…
Celtic's summer spending spree in 2021
2021 was a huge summer of upheaval at Celtic; they’d just had their hopes of ten successive titles shattered by Rangers, while ten senior first-team players left the club, including Scott Brown, Odsonne Édouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie who, between them, made 1,121 appearances in hoops, with Brown contributing more than half of that total.
In came Ange Postecoglou as manager and, with no director of football in place, the Australian was tasked with leading the recruitment too, so 14 players arrived during that first summer, followed by five more in January.
Some were major successes, including Matt O’Riley, Josip Juranović, Carl Starfelt, Liel Abada and the aforementioned Kyōgo, who were all sold for big fees, while Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and returning hero Jota remain key figures in the current team.
Some of Postecoglou’s signings made their mark in a very truncated period of time in Glasgow, and that is certainly the case for one centre-forward who would be a real asset in the present, had he stayed with the Scottish champions.
The Celtic striker that got away
As part of Postecoglou’s first wave of signings, Giorgos Giakoumakis arrived from VVV-Venlo for a reported fee of £2.5m, having won the Eredivisie golden boot, despite the fact his team were relegated from the Dutch top-flight, a rare combination.
Well, he would make it back-to-back golden boots, sharing the Premiership’s top-scorer award during his only full season at Celtic, scoring 26 times in 57 appearances overall, averaging a goal every 92 minutes.
The Greek striker then left for Atlanta United in February 2023, for a reported £4.3m fee, but didn’t stay in Major League Soccer very long either, moving to current club Cruz Azul for around £8m a year later.
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Despite bouncing around, Giakoumakis earns high praise everywhere he goes; John McGinley described him as “a brilliant competitor”, Craig Swan of the Daily Record labelled him an “outstanding finisher”, while Jaime Uribarri of MLS’ official site poetically anointed him the “Greek God of goals”.
He has so far scored nine goals for los Cementeros in Liga MX this season, across the Apertura and Clausura, which is currently more than Adam Idah’s tally of seven Premiership goals, so let’s assess how the duo compare.
Appearances
57
68
54
Minutes
2,517
4,397
2,278
Goals
26
33
21
Goals per 90
0.93
0.68
0.83
Assists
2
11
3
Assists per 90
0.07
0.23
0.12
As the table above outlines, Giakoumakis’ goals-per-90 ratio during his time at Celtic was frankly off the scale, although Idah’s isn’t too bad either, having netted in back-to-back Premiership games, also bagging a brace at Villa Park in the Champions League last month.
Speaking on Premier Sports’ Scottish Football Social Club, former Rangers defender Alan Hutton believes Idah has taken confidence from the fact he’s now the number one striker, as a result of Kyōgo’s departure, while former Hearts and Hibs midfielder Michael Stewart adds that Idah has “got all the components to be a top striker”.
Nevertheless, Giakoumakis is a proven goalscorer, doing so at a higher level than the Scottish Premiership right now; Global Football rankings believe Liga MX to be the 14th strongest league in the world, MLS actually comes in at ninth, while Scotland’s top-division is all the way down at 43rd.
So, the Hoops would certainly be in a better position if they still had the Greek centre-forward at their disposal, even if they did make a decent profit from his departure.
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