Football journalist Duncan Castles has been sharing some details concerning a potential transfer move for VVV-Venlo striker Georgios Giakoumakis this summer from Celtic.
This comes after Castles co-hosted a recent episode of The Transfer Window Podcast where he and Ian McGarry spoke about a variety of transfer-related issues concerning a number of different clubs.
Giakoumakis has been linked with Celtic for a while, but it appears they are not the only ones pursuing the Greek striker.
On the subject of Celtic’s current state of affairs in terms of transfers heading into the final days of the summer window, Castles had this to say on the club’s reported interest in signing Giakoumakis and the current situation surrounding it.
He said: “From Giakoumakis’ end, he has now been approached from the Turkish league, and as we reported from the start, he has a very substantial offer from Qatar worth a multiple of what Celtic have been prepared to pay him.
“There would be an opportunity if Celtic want to persuade the player in person, they’ve yet to meet him in person because he’s in the Netherlands and they play in their Europa League qualifying play-off game [against AZ Alkmaar] so there is a chance that they swing back into the pursuit of Giakoumakis, but at the moment, they don’t seem to have a striker secured for this season – a new starting striker – and they don’t seem to have a deal in place to sell a very expensive investment who wants out this season.
“So, they are another club who look likely to have a very busy final few days in this market.”
TIF Thoughts on Duncan Castles’ comments on Giakoumakis and a potential move to Celtic…
Since joining VVV-Venlo back in August last year, the striker has managed to score 29 goals in just 33 appearances for the Dutch side, which makes it easy to see why the player has several offers on the table for him to move clubs as Castles spoke about.
Do you think Celtic should go all out for Giakoumakis?
Yes
No
In our view, taking into account the very good goalscoring record that Giakoumakis has made for himself at Venlo and the fact that current Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard has been linked with a move away from the Parkhead club, we feel that the club should try everything they can to secure the Greek striker’s signature before another club snaps him up, or they run out of time to complete a deal.
Edouard’s productivity in front of goal has diminished slightly in recent months, while Albian Ajeti’s time at the club has arguably not gone to plan at all, so the need for another centre-forward is clear at Celtic.
Giakoumakis’ record in the Netherlands suggests he could be a viable replacement, but whether he’ll take on the chance to make a name for himself in Glasgow remains to be seen.
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