The contrast could hardly have been more pronounced.
As Giorgios Giakoumakis maintained Celtic’s three point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a hat-trick in a 4-0 trouncing of Ross County, Thomas Henry trudged off the pitch in the dying minutes of Venezia’s latest defeat at home to Sampdoria, a red card robbing the Serie A strugglers of their top scorer ahead of April’s crunch clash against relegation rivals Spezia.
If looks could kill, Henry’s family would have been picking out the flowers for his funeral on Monday morning.
Venezia coach Paolo Zanetti was furious in the face of such ill-discipline. So much so that his foul-mouthed tirade in the aftermath of Henry’s sending off is expected to result in a touchline ban.
Now, barring this weekend’s unsavoury scenes, Henry has actually been, if not a success, then certainly passable in his debut Serie A campaign. Not quite an A but definitely a B+.
Even for a Venezia side with just five wins to their name, the former OH Leuven talisman has produced six goals and a further three assists.
Giakoumakis or Thomas Henry?
Celtic were expected to sign the 6ft 4ins Frenchman on the back of a prolific spell in one of Europe’s second-tier leagues. According to The Sun, a seven-figure move to Parkhead was ‘on the brink’ of completion before Venezia swooped in.
“To bring Thomas to Venice, we made an important offer,” director Paolo Poggi explained last year.
“Beyond the economic aspect, we have shown confidence in the player by explaining our project to him. We’re satisfied he chose us over many clubs. Celtic, for example.”
Few at Celtic will be too disappointed by how things worked out, however. Particularly given that, after missing out on Henry, the Hoops turned their attention to another man who had broken the 20-goal barrier in a B-rate division across 2020/21.
What’s more, Giorgios Giakoumakis set Celtic back just £2 million, far less than the fee Venezia parted with for Henry.
And, as Ange Postecoglou’s side put Ross County to the sword, Giakoumakis scored half as many goals in just 50 minutes as Henry has all season long.
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