David Provan has suggested that Celtic made a mistake by signing Georgios Giakoumakis instead of Kevin Nisbet during the summer.
The Greek hitman joined the Hoops on deadline day from Dutch side VVV-Venlo.
The 26-year-old was pretty hot property after scoring 29 goals in 33 games for the relegated Eredivisie side last season.
He looked set to move to Werder Bremen at one point, but Celtic ultimately won the race.
However, Provan has suggested that it may be a mistake by manager Ange Postecoglou.
That’s because the Hoops were also rumoured to be keen on Nisbet, who fired 14 Premiership goals for Hibernian last season.
And because of his familiarity with Scotland’s top flight, Provan believes that Celtic may have been better off going for the 24-year-old, arguing that Giakoumakis may not be able to ‘hack it’.
He said to the Go Radio Football show: “I am hugely surprised that a deal wasn’t done for Kevin Nisbet. Giakoumakis has come and his numbers are good, but no one knows if he is going to hack it here. The one thing about Kevin Nisbet is that he has proved that can score in the Premiership. For me, he would have scored a hell of a lot more goals given the players Celtic would have had around him.”
Fair assessment?
Well, there’s no doubt Nisbet is a good player, but writing off the Greek is a bit senseless.
Yes Nisbet could’ve been a goal machine, but Giakoumakis is a goal machine – at least, he was in the Netherlands.
He won the Golden Boot in the Eredivisie by seven goals last term and that was playing for a club who were ultimately relegated.
Provan’s logic is that if Nisbet scored 14 for Hibs, he could tear it up at Parkhead, but the same is true of the 26-year-old who will also be playing alongside better players at Celtic.
This lad – who cost only £2.5 million – could well be dynamite in Glasgow and it’ll be fascinating to see how he fares.
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