Celtic must rue selling “brilliant” ace who’s outscoring Idah

On Wednesday evening, Celtic’s excellent type continued.

The Hoops moved 13 factors clear on the high of the Scottish Premiership, smashing Dundee 6-0; Arne Engels and Daizen Maeda each bagged braces, whereas Adam Idah and Nicolas Kühn had been additionally on course for the Parkhead facet.

Regardless of this scoring spree, following Kyōgo Furuhashi‘s transfer away, Brendan Rodgers has very restricted attacking choices at his disposal, with Mark Atkinson of the Scotsman stating that Rodgers “made no secret of his want” to usher in a striker.

So, will the Celts rue promoting a high-quality quantity 9 they’d spearheading their assault not so way back?

All of it started again in 2021…

Celtic’s summer season spending spree in 2021

2021 was an enormous summer season of upheaval at Celtic; they’d simply had their hopes of ten successive titles shattered by Rangers, whereas ten senior first-team players left the membership, together with Scott Brown, Odsonne Édouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie who, between them, made 1,121 appearances in hoops, with Brown contributing greater than half of that complete.

In got here Ange Postecoglou as supervisor and, with no director of football in place, the Australian was tasked with main the recruitment too, so 14 gamers arrived throughout that first summer season, adopted by 5 extra in January.

Some had been main successes, together with Matt O’Riley, Josip Juranović, Carl Starfelt, Liel Abada and the aforementioned Kyōgo, who had been all bought for large charges, whereas Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and returning hero Jota stay key figures within the present group.

A few of Postecoglou’s signings made their mark in a really truncated time period in Glasgow, and that’s actually the case for one centre-forward who could be an actual asset within the current, had he stayed with the Scottish champions.

The Celtic striker that obtained away

As a part of Postecoglou’s first wave of signings, Giorgos Giakoumakis arrived from VVV-Venlo for a reported fee of £2.5m, having gained the Eredivisie golden boot, regardless of the very fact his group had been relegated from the Dutch top-flight, a uncommon mixture.

Effectively, he would make it back-to-back golden boots, sharing the Premiership’s top-scorer award throughout his solely full season at Celtic, scoring 26 times in 57 appearances total, averaging a aim each 92 minutes.

The Greek striker then left for Atlanta United in February 2023, for a reported £4.3m fee, however did not keep in Main League Soccer very lengthy both, shifting to present membership Cruz Azul for round £8m a year later.

Where Are They Now

Your star participant or largest flop has left the membership however what are they doing within the current day? This text is a part of Soccer FanCast’s The place Are They Now collection.

Regardless of bouncing round, Giakoumakis earns excessive reward in every single place he goes; John McGinley described him as “an excellent competitor”, Craig Swan of the Daily Record labelled him an “excellent finisher”, whereas Jaime Uribarri of MLS’ official site poetically anointed him the “Greek God of targets”.

He has to this point scored nine goals for los Cementeros in Liga MX this season, throughout the Apertura and Clausura, which is at present greater than Adam Idah‘s tally of seven Premiership targets, so let’s assess how the duo evaluate.

Because the desk above outlines, Giakoumakis’ goals-per-90 ratio throughout his time at Celtic was frankly off the dimensions, though Idah’s is not too unhealthy both, having netted in back-to-back Premiership video games, additionally bagging a brace at Villa Park within the Champions League final month.

Speaking on Premier Sports’ Scottish Football Social Club, former Rangers defender Alan Hutton believes Idah has taken confidence from the very fact he is now the primary striker, on account of Kyōgo’s departure, whereas former Hearts and Hibs midfielder Michael Stewart provides that Idah has “obtained all of the elements to be a high striker”.

However, Giakoumakis is a confirmed goalscorer, doing so at a better degree than the Scottish Premiership proper now; Global Football rankings imagine Liga MX to be the 14th strongest league on this planet, MLS really is available in at ninth, whereas Scotland’s top-division is all the best way down at forty third.

So, the Hoops will surely be in a greater place in the event that they nonetheless had the Greek centre-forward at their disposal, even when they did make a good revenue from his departure.

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