Dutch club VVV Venlo are desperate for Giorgos Giakoumakis to seal his big money exit from Celtic – and land a bumper windfall.
The Greek striker is poised to move to the MLS with Atlanta United, instead of a switch to Japan with Urawa Red Diamonds. But the American transfer window still has 12 weeks to run. VVV would be due a 15 per cent sell-on when he leaves Celtic, with the fee around the £4.3million mark. This would see them rake in a huge bonus after selling him 18 months ago.
And the club's general manager Marco Boogers revealed: "It will take a long time before there is clarity. I've seen so many clubs be mentioned this month and still, nothing is known for certain. Everything is just gossip. It's history repeating itself when he left us because there were also a lot of rumours about interest in him flying about.
"Giorgos is quiet a thinker. He is very careful in making a choice. Given his age, I expect that the financial aspect will play an important role. If he went to Urawa Red Diamonds, he would become a teammate of our former player, Bryan Linssen. I have been in contact with Bryan, who told me that Giorgos was seriously considered there, but apparently, he has now made a different choice, although I say that carefully, because as far as I know, nothing is final yet.
"We were always confident he would get a nice follow-on transfer from Celtic. That is why we considered the resale percentage to be very important. We had hoped that he would make a step to the Premier League. That tradition is there, with Celtic players. Recently another Celtic striker, Odsonne Edouard, went to Crystal Palace for £17 million. In the Premier League, such amounts are easily paid.
"We hoped that Giakoumakis would also get a big transfer. It is also quite strange that English clubs have not yet come. He has great stats. When he plays, he scores. He proved that in Venlo and then in Glasgow. Also in the Champions League, also for the Greek national team.
"When he does complete his transfer, we still owe part of the money to his former club AEK Athens and to his agent. But it will be money that we have not budgeted for and that we have not taken into account for this season. This extra income is always nice for a club like VVV."
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