Giorgios Giakoumakis has confirmed he plans to leave VVV Venlo this month with Celtic entering talks to sign the £2.5 million-rated goal-machine, as he told the club’s official website.
It doesn’t reflect particularly well on the rest of the VVV squad that, despite sharing a dressing room with the most prolific centre-forward in the Eredivisie, the Limburgers still ended the campaign in 17th place, relegated after winning just six of their 34 matches.
Talk about a bittersweet feeling.
Giakoumakis earned the Golden Boot award during his debut season in Dutch football, comfortably outscoring the likes of Donyell Malen and Dusan Tadic along the way, but still suffered the ignominy of relegation.
Remarkably enough, offers for the Greece international have been in short supply over the last three months, reported interest from Southampton, Norwich City and Brighton coming to nothing.
But, with just a fortnight to go before the transfer window slams shut on Giakoumakis’s fingers, Celtic may be about to come to his rescue in the nick of time.
Could Giorgios Giakoumakis be Celtic’s best signing yet?
According to the Daily Record, Ange Postecoglou’s side have entered talks over a bargain £2.5 million deal.
For context, the man who finished closest to Giakoumakis in the Eredivisie Golden Boot race, Donyell Malen, joined Borussia Dortmund for nearly £30 million last month.
“I hope, for the interest of the club and for my own interest, that I will no longer be here after September 1,” Giakoumakis said today.
“I don’t know where my future lies. There is a little more pressure now. I’ve had some offers and have yet to think about them.
“I will have to make a decision and think it will be soon. We are heading towards the end of the transfer window.”
If Giakoumakis can score 29 goals in 33 matches for a side battling against the drop, imagine what this most ice-cool of finishers could do when the likes of Ryan Christie, James Forrest and Kyogo Furuhashi are serving up chances on a silver platter.
The late-blooming 26-year-old scored three hat-tricks last season, notching four goals against both Vitesse Arnhem and ADO Den Haag.
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