Even though this season isn’t yet over, attention is already starting to turn towards Celtic’s summer plans.
The Hoops are on course to win a sixth treble in just nine seasons; they could rubber-stamp the Premiership title as soon as this weekend, before facing St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup semi-finals at Hampden on Easter Sunday.
The biggest success of this season however, came in Europe, where Brendan Rodgers’ side reached the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in 12 years, heartbreakingly beaten by Bayern Munich right at the death in Bavaria.
Later this year, the Celts will need to come through a two-legged playoff tie to reach the Champions League league phase again, fixtures scheduled for 19/20 and 26/27 August, so they’ll want to get their summer business done early, with centre-forward a potential question mark.
Giorgos Giakoumakis' stunning record at Celtic
After taking over in the summer of 2021, Ange Postecoglou oversaw a mass-squad overhaul, with 12 players signed, including Giorgos Giakoumakis, who joined from VVV-Venlo for a reported fee of £2.5m having won the Eredivisie golden boot, a particularly impressive feat considering his team were actually relegated.
Well, the Greek international would make it back-to-back golden boots, scoring 13 Premiership goals during his first season in Scotland, thereby sharing the award with Regan Charles-Cook of Ross County.
In total, Giakoumakis bagged 26 goals in 57 appearances for Celtic, described by Craig Swan of the Daily Record as an ‘outstanding finisher’.
However, of those 57 appearances, 35 came as a substitute, mainly forced to play second-fiddle to Kyōgo Furuhashi.
Thus, after only 18 months in Glasgow, Giakoumakis joined Atlanta United in Major League Soccer for £4.3m in February 2023, before then moving to current club Cruz Azul in Liga MX for a reported £8m a year later.
A lack of regular starting opportunities led to a clearly talented goalscorer seeking first-team football elsewhere, so is Rodgers faced with a similar issue now?
Rodgers may have the next Giakoumakis at Celtic
Eyebrows were raised when Celtic agreed to pay a reported fee of £9.5m to sign Adam Idah permanently from Norwich last summer, only spending more to acquire Arne Engles, Jota and Odsonne Édouard.
After arriving on loan in January 2024, the Republic of Ireland international made a huge impact, scoring nine goals for the hoops, including memorably bagging a 90th-minute winner against Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final, thereby described by presenter Daniel Hussey as a “huge talent”.
However, he’s not quite lived up to those heights this season, as the table below outlines.
Appearances
19
45
Minutes
809
1,890
Starts
7
19
% of apps starting
36.84%
42.22%
Goals
9
14
Minutes per goal
90
135
Assists
2
1
The most telling statistic is Idah’s minutes-per-goal ratio, which has fallen from 90 to 135, which is still pretty impressive in fairness, while last season’s impact was always going to be unsustainable.
Most interesting is the fact the Irishman is still yet to cement himself as a regular starter, outlined by the percentage of his appearances that are starts, a figure that’s only increased from around 37% to 42% this season.
When Kyōgo was sold to Rennes in January, Andy Burke of BBC Sport noted that the expectation was that Idah would become the first-choice centre-forward, but this has not transpired, with Daizen Maeda predominantly deployed centrally, hence why Idah has started just one of the last six matches.
Ankan Bhowmick of Sports Illustrated notes that the Irishman has ‘struggled for consistency’, both in terms of performance and minutes, anticipating that the Hoops will sign another striker in the summer.
Thus, despite describing joining Celtic as his “dream move”, if Idah continues to feel under-utilised, it would be no surprise if he were to follow Giakoumakis’ path and leave the club.
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