Football insider Duncan Castles has been sharing some details on Celtic’s reported interest in signing VVV-Venlo striker Georgios Giakoumakis this summer.
This comes after Castles co-hosted a recent episode of The Transfer Window Podcast, where he spoke about the latest transfer-related topics.
On the subject of Ange Postecoglou’s side and their reported interest in Giakoumakis, Castles had this to say on the matter.
He said: “Interestingly, it’s Ange Postecoglou, the new manager, who is intimately involved in the process.
“I’m told he has called Giakoumakis direct to explain to him what he wants him to do for Celtic, the kind of football he wants to play.
“Obviously, [he has] a reputation as an attacking coach, and that’s something that’s gone down well with Giakoumakis – also the idea that he will have a platform where he can further his Greek international career, where he’ll be able to play European football in the Europa League and somewhere which has proved to be a successful development ground for European strikers in the past, and a platform on which he could end up moving to the English Premier League if he does well at Celtic.
“Still in negotiation stages, no agreement with Venlo and negotiation over the salary, but it looks like that could be a deal that will work for Celtic, there’s an element of attraction there for Giakoumakis.”
Giakoumakis joined the Dutch club back in August last year from AEK Athens for a fee of £180k.
TIF Thoughts on Duncan Castles’ comments on Celtic’s interest in signing Giakoumakis…
Overall, the 26-year-old, who is currently valued at £2.25 million according to Transfermarkt, has made 33 appearances for Venlo, in which he has managed to rack up an impressive total of 29 goals and two assists across all competitions.
Taking into account what Castles had to say, it’s interesting to hear that Postecoglou has apparently made contact with the player about a potential move to the Parkhead club, which makes sense given he’s previously shared his concerns over the club’s player recruitment this summer, which could be why he’s supposedly taken things into his own hands by contacting Giakoumakis.
Would you like Celtic to sign Giakoumakis this summer?
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In our view, taking into account Giakoumakis’ impressive goalscoring record for Venlo and the fact that current Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard has been recently linked with a move to Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion, it’s easy to see why the club are being linked with a move for the Greek striker, who we feel could be a great replacement for Edouard, based on his relative success in the Netherlands.
In other news: ‘That’s my Tuesday ruined’, ‘Pain’ – Lots of Celtic fans react to Sky Sports transfer update