Despite arriving at Celtic last summer on the back of an incredibly impressive goalscoring season in the Netherlands, Giorgos Giakoumakis has somewhat struggled to replicate this predatorial instinct in the final third so far at Parkhead.
Indeed, over his 30 Eredivisie appearances for VVV-Venlo last term, the £1.8m-rated striker scored a league-high 26 goals, registered one assist and created three big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 3.2 shots and making 0.5 key passes per game.
These returns saw the forward earn a quite astonishing seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.35, not only ranking him as his side’s best performer in the Dutch top-flight but also as the joint sixth-best player in the entirety of the league.
However, over the £8.2k-per-week hitman’s ten Premiership appearances – only six of which have come as starts – so far this season, it has been a rather different story for the Greece international, with the striker having scored just two goals, registered no assists, created no big chances and missing seven big chances of his own.
These metrics have seen the 27-year-old average an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of 6.48, ranking him as Ange Postecoglou’s third-worst performer in the top flight of Scottish football.
Although, while there may be an argument that Giakoumakis should have put one or two more of his big chances away for the Hoops, his statistics simply do not truly reflect what the 6 foot 1 centre-forward brings to the Celtic attack.
Indeed, in the 3-0 win over Rangers last week, the striker left the match with a mere 5.8 SofaScore match rating, despite the fact he was arguably one of Celtic’s most influential players on the night.
This rating more than likely came about because of the fact the former AEK Athens forward lost seven of his eight duels, completed just one pass and only enjoyed 13 touches of the ball over his 62 minutes on the pitch.
However, while on paper these returns would appear to be rather disastrous, in reality, the 27-year-old was a nuisance for Connor Goldson and Calvin Bassey in the heart of the Rangers defence all evening, with the striker chasing lost causes, continually putting pressure on his opponents and challenging for every ball that came his way.
As such, it would appear as if Giakoumakis is the type of attacker that Celtic have lacked in recent seasons, and, considering the fact that the hitman has previously demonstrated that he has the ability to find the back of the net on a regular basis, we strongly believe the 6-time capped international will come good for the Bhoys in front of goal.
However, in order for him to do so, Postecoglou must keep the faith, starting with preserving the striker who Everything Celtic dubbed an “absolute nuisance” in his XI for the trip to Aberdeen this evening – as the Greek colossus would undoubtedly bully the Dons backline, just as he did in the Old Firm victory.
In other news: Huge blow: Celtic dealt fresh injury setback ahead of Dons, Postecoglou will be gutted