Giorgos Giakoumakis is already a big name in Crete but wants the rest of Europe to be talking about him and Celtic after their Champions League assault. The Greek international admitted it was an emotional day when his home village on the island paid tributes to their favourite son during the summer.
He was presented with a special award from his grandad, who is also called Giorgos, for his footballing exploits. Giakoumakis is also very much making a name for himself in Scotland with Celtic. The 27-year-old took time to find his feet but in the second half of last season he showed why Ange Postecoglou was so keen to get him, as his goals helped fire the Hoops to a double.
The additional prize that came with the title was automatic entry to the Champions League and that is where the big striker is keen to make his mark. Giakoumakis, who had a brief taste of it with AEK Athens, said: “I will always try to make an impact whatever I play in. I try to change my level, I try to push myself, to improve myself a lot. The Champions League is something amazing, the best league that a player can play in within the European game. It makes me feel like we are at the top level.”
Giakoumakis walked away with two winner’s medals but it was his home presentation that really touched him, especially because his grandad was involved. He said: “It was really emotional. My grandfather is very old, he is 94 years old.
“He is always proud. They always want you to have success in your life. Your grandfather, your father, your family, they already feel proud no matter what you do in your life.
“So even more when you are a successful football player and he always loved football. So it was a special day for me that I will always remember.
“They just gave me an honour because it is my village. It is where I come from and they had a big festival, a big party. We also had some musicians.
“It was something amazing. They just gave me this trophy in order to give me an honour.”
It was one he has added to his trophy cabinet, although he still has a space and is waiting for another. Giakoumakis finished joint top scorer in the Premiership last season along with former Ross County attacker Regan Charles-Cook.
Fellow Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi has already told Giakoumakis he has his eyes on that prize this season. You sense that will be easier said than done. The Celtic star said: “First of all, I’m still waiting for my trophy.
“Where’s my trophy? Maybe they lost it, I don’t know! We will see. It suits the strikers who have better chances to score.
“That’s one of my main targets this year – to score as many as possible. Why not be the top scorer in the league? Alone.”
Postecoglou came in from VVV Venlo last season and it was a sluggish start with injuries and Covid issues. It meant a frustrating few months but then he hit the goal trail and never looked back. He ended up with 17 goals in all competitions but Giakoumakis wants even more.
He said: “Last year, I struggled a lot at first. I had almost three pre-seasons, or four, I can’t remember. It was a season when I was struggling a lot but I was fighting with my heart.
“You must have a good pre-season, a hard pre-season, in order to help you during the season that is coming. This year is going to be better. I try to improve and push a lot.”
Giakoumakis reckons he is making progress under Postecoglou and is continually improving. That helped him to win his place back in the Greek squad and is a big motivation for him. I always try to work as much as possible in order to improve myself,” he said.
“It’s also nice because I had some success with the national team. That was something I was waiting for. I have been looking forward to this success for many, many years. I try to change my level every day.”
Giakoumakis got off the mark in pre-season with Wednesday’s win over Banik Ostrava. He is in no doubt that it will be the first of many goals, trophies and individual awards he might collect this season.
Giakoumakis said: “It (Banik Ostrava) was a good game. It’s always good to try to get a positive result, even in friendly games.
“We have a lot more to improve but we are improving day by day. I am happy because I scored but it doesn’t matter for me if it’s a nice goal or not. I try to score as many as possible.”
