Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers shuffled his striking pack in the summer transfer window to bolster his squad ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.
Firstly, the Northern Irish head coach ruthlessly cashed in on South Korea international Hyeon-gyu Oh, who moved to Genk on a permanent deal.
That then opened the door for the Hoops to swoop to bring Republic of Ireland international Adam Idah back to Parkhead for a second spell, after his time on loan during the second half of last season.
The Scottish giants reportedly reached an agreement with Norwich City to sign the 23-year-old marksman for a whopping fee of £8.5m, with a further £1m in potential add-ons that could take the deal to £9.5m.
Idah has scored four goals in nine appearances in all competitions for the Hoops so far this season and Celtic will be hoping that he can continue his development and eventually emerge as a consistent and reliable goalscorer for years to come – given the money they paid for him.
The Bhoys have had plenty of lethal strikers over the years, including the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi, Gary Hooper, and Odsonne Edouard, but the most memorable of them all is Henrik Larsson.
Henrik Larsson's Celtic career
The Scottish giants swooped to sign the Sweden international from Feyenoord in the summer of 1997 after he had enjoyed a relatively average campaign in the Dutch top-flight.
Larsson had produced seven goals in 31 league appearances during the 1996/97 season and had scored 39 goals in 136 matches for Feyenoord in all competitions.
This shows that the Swedish star was far from prolific during his time in the Netherlands and that Celtic were not bringing in a centre-forward who was guaranteed to be a superstar at Parkhead when they moved to sign him in 1997.
The marksman then had a solid, but unspectacular, first season in Glasgow with a return of 14 goals and six assists in 36 appearances in all competitions.
After another couple of decent seasons at Parkhead, Larsson made his breakthrough as a superstar for the Hoops with a staggering haul of 53 goals and two assists in 50 matches during the 2000/01 campaign.
The Sweden international went on to rack up 220 goals and 63 assists in 287 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants throughout his career in Glasgow.
These statistics show that Larsson was an incredibly prolific and lethal striker for the majority of his time with Celtic, as he almost averaged a goal contribution every match on average.
The Hoops have been searching for their next Larsson ever since his move to Barcelona in the summer of 2004 and may have once thought they found him in Georgios Giakoumakis.
The striker who was a "Henrik Larsson-type"
In the summer of 2021, Celtic were chasing a deal to sign the Greek international from VVV Venlo and former Scotland manager Alex McLeish had big expectations of the forward.
Speaking to Football Insider, the Scottish chief suggested that Giakoumakis could be a “Henrik Larsson-type” character for the Hoops and that he could be a “special” signing for the club, because of his goalscoring record in the Netherlands.
The Greek star had plundered a staggering 29 goals in 33 games in all competitions for VVV Venlo in the 2020/21 campaign, including 26 goals in 30 matches in the Eredivisie.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast's 'First Impressions' series has everything you need.
They were relegated from the Dutch top-flight despite his extraordinary efforts in front of goal and Celtic may have felt as though they had a potential Larsson 2.0 on their hands, as another player coming over from the Netherlands with the potential to be a lethal scorer for the Hoops.
Appearances
21
Starts
11
Goals
13
Minutes per goal
81
Assists
1
As you can see in the table above, Giakoumakis had a mixed first season at Parkhead with limited appearances but a lethal goal record in that time.
The striker, who missed nine games through injury, was not trusted to start games regularly by Ange Postecoglou yet still managed to average a goal every 81 minutes in the Scottish Premiership.
Giakoumakis followed that up with a return of six goals and one assist in 19 appearances and four starts in the Australian manager’s second season.
His lack of consistent minutes on the pitch for Celtic led to an exit from Glasgow in February of 2023, before the end of his second campaign at the club.
How much Celtic sold Giakoumakis for
MLS side Atlanta United reportedly swooped in to pay a fee of up to £4.3m, with a guaranteed payment of £3.5m, for the Greek international.
Giakoumakis later revealed that he was denied a pay rise that he felt he deserved, despite his lack of minutes, at Celtic and that played a part in his exit from the club.
Irrespective of how his transfer to America came about, the former Eredivisie star never lived up to the early hype after his move to Scotland in 2021, as he never even got close to reaching Larsson’s level of lethal goalscoring over the course of an entire season.
The Greek sensation set out to prove Celtic wrong for not giving him more minutes and not giving him the pay rise he wanted with his performances on the pitch for Atlanta last year.
Appearances
30
xG
14.82
Goals
19
Big chances missed
10
Assists
2
As you can see in the table above, Giakoumakis may feel like he did that by scoring 19 goals from 14.82 xG in just 30 MLS outings for his next club.
He followed that up with five goals from 4.87 xG in eight starts in the MLS in 2024 before completing a move to Mexican side Cruz Azul, where he has scored five goals in nine league games this season.
These statistics show that the attacker has been in lethal form since moving on from Parkhead and Celtic may regret not trying harder to retain his services, as Kyogo Furuhashi has scored 17 goals and missed 33 ‘big chances’ in the Premiership since the start of last season.
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