Giakoumakis: “Celtic have absolutely no intention to sell him: untouchable,” Fabrizio Romano | OneFootball

Despite English Premier League interest highlighted by transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis and Celtic appear to be on the same page when it comes to the batting of eyes and the flashing of bulging wallets from top flight English clubs – both parties are perfectly happy with their current relationship.

Romano has a fairly strong reputation when it comes to mooted transfers across the globe, and with nearly 11 million followers on social media, it’s fair to say he’s probably very well connected and correct more often than he’s not – although both Atletico Madrid and Josip Juranovic would likely attest to the fact Romano doesn’t always get things right!

Possibly on the back of some backlash from the Juranovic story Romano is very careful this time out to clarify – despite previous interest in one of Celtic’s overhead kick heroes from the weekend – that Celtic class the player as ‘untouchable’ and that Giakoumakis is perfectly happy with his current employer.

Giorgos Giakoumakis has started the season playing the role of a supporting act from the bench, but with the number games about to go from one to two games a week as European football and the domestic cup competitions come to the fore, Scotland’s joint top scorer last season will be called upon to start games more often as the season builds up to a relentless pace. When it does there will be more than enough games and goals up for grabs to satisfy the striking thirst of both Giakoumakis and Kyogo.

For now, as with the mooted interest in Juranovic and Matt O’Riley, Celtic appear – possibly with the security of Champions League funding guaranteed through automatic group stage qualification this season – to be happy not to court interest in our top team talents. Changed days from selling the family silver every summer to make up for another failed Champions League qualifying campaign and a most welcome deviation.

Giakoumakis faced a great number of doubting Thomas’s when signing from VVV Venlo after finishing as Eredivisie top scorer, this despite his club being relegated. Yet a lack of a proper pre-season and a delay in signing the Greek striker as exits for the previous season’s wantaways were concluded, saw the player struggle to build up the base level of fitness required to keep up with his teammates.

Giorgos Giakoumakis of Celtic celebrates after he scores his team’s fifth goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Kilmarnock FC and Celtic FC at on August 14, 2022. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Despite niggling injuries and proper pre-season preparation, Giakoumakis declined the opportunity during the winter break to spend time with family and friends and instead knuckled down to a mini pre-season in December. The results in the new year were immediate, as the striker became the joint top scorer in the Scottish top-flight and proved himself a penalty box predator renowned for his one-touch finishes in the second half of the season.

Such a turnaround, and a goalscoring start to this season, has no doubt led to interest from other clubs, but it appears that neither the player or the club is interested in in discussing alternative career plans this summer.

Giorgos Giakoumakis of Celtic celebrates after he scores his team’s fifth goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Kilmarnock FC and Celtic FC at on August 14, 2022. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It does make you wonder however just how good EPL scouts are, after all Celtic picked up the Dutch top flight scorer for £2.5m just last summer. How much would he cost now?

Niall J