Former Celtic player Chris Sutton says he is worried about the fitness of forward Giorgos Giokoumakis.
The Greece international has played just 15 minutes for the Scottish club, despite arriving from VVV Venlo for £2.5m back in August. He was due to play against Raith Rovers in the League Cup last month but sustained an injury in the warm-up, and Sutton claims it is a major concern:
“We now need to see what Giorgos Giakoumakis is all about. It’s fair to say it’s been an inauspicious start. I feel a bit sorry for the Greek striker. He arrived with a big reputation after being top scorer in Holland last season with a team that got relegated. But he’s had nothing but bad luck since. He had issues when he landed but then got himself fit and suffered a setback in the warm-up when he was about to make his debut against Raith Rovers.”
“Of course that’s a worry. He’s not taken part in much of a pre-season and hasn’t played any games. It’s not a great sign breaking down that early. It’s now October and he’s yet to start a game. This last week at Lennoxtown should be invaluable though. He needs to get up to speed quickly.”
Giokoumakis should be able to use the current international break as a mini pre-season in order to get up to fitness, and considering he didn’t go away with his country, he should be a candidate to start versus Motherwell on Saturday.
Especially with Albian Ajeti struggling, manager Ange Postecoglou is undoubtedly keen to take some of the burden off Kyogo Furuhashi for scoring goals.
If Giokoumakis can prove his fitness and get on the scoresheet in the next couple of matches, it would massively help the Hoops’ chances of getting their campaign back on track.
