Georgios Giakoumakis scouted as Celtic striking target's strengths and weaknesses assessed

It's a well worn one Celtic continue to explore but have been forced to double-back on more than once in their search for a 20-goal season striker.

Striker X does well in a continental league, is looking to take the next step in his career and Celtic float along as the next stone for them to leap onto.

Vakoun Issouf Bayo and Patrick Klimala are the most recent examples, fresh from scoring 18 in 23 games and seven in 17 respectively and costing a combined £5m. They're no longer on the payroll after managing five in 45, together, with Bayo notching in the Premiership zero times.

Stefan Scepovic, Teemu Pukki and Amido Balde fit in the same bracket while significant money was also spent on Albian Ajeti and Nadir Ciftci too, albeit from British sides. If Moussa Dembele, Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths are taken out of the equation, Celtic's recruitment for the centre forward position over the last 10 years or so has been frankly hideous. Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes are two other successful ones but were also signed from these shores.

OH Leuven striker Thomas Henry looked like he might be next off the conveyor belt but has since joined Serie A side, Venezia, after a prolific season in Belgium. The next to appear is the aforementioned Giakoumakis, who finished the Eredivisie season as the league's top scorer on 26 goals, plus one in the cup, which is a remarkable total given he plays for VVV-Venlo who were relegated.

Perhaps even more remarkably, Celtic aren't jostling with many other people to grab him; Werder Bremen are the only other club linked to him as strongly as Celtic. So, what gives?

"He was absolutely a surprise package. Nobody expected him to do as well as he did," says Michael Statham, host of the FootballOranje podcast.

"He just took the league by storm after scoring a hat-trick in his first game and didn't look back.

"He was so full of confidence for the whole season and played with arrogance, now he has to strike while the iron's hot and wants to use this transfer window as a business opportunity for himself and VVV-Venlo. He's worked hard for this."

Giakoumakis' goal record can't be sniffed at, but as always, context is important. Eight of his goals last season were penalties so that dilutes his achievement slightly. Yes, someone has to score them, but it's important to note. In total, he scored in 18 of 34 Eredivisie games to reach 26 goals.

READ MORE: The Ange Postecoglou philosophy that hasn't changed since day one

What's impressive is that nearly 50 per cent of his goals were one-touch finishes, which could serve Ange Postecoglou's tactics wonderfully by linking up with players like James Forrest, Liel Abada, Ryan Christie and Kyogo Furuhashi, who can all deliver from the by-line as part of a three-pronged attack.

In one instance towards the end of the season, he made a run across goal to touch the ball into the far corner, like Kyogo's opener against Dundee. In fact, only one of his goals last season was finished after taking more than two touches, and it was an audacious lob from the inside right half-space after running out of room to do anything else. 

Giakoumakis darts towards the front post to reach the cross

His impressive strike rate doesn't stem from the balance of probability either.

Last season he scored at a rate better than one goal every four shots, and nearly half of the ones on target ended up in the back of the net. In the last three domestic games, Celtic have had 104 shots on goal, so chances aren't exactly few and far between and neither are rebounds.

VVV-Venlo would have been relegated long before they were if they didn't have Giakoumakis, without his goals they'd have been 17 points worse off in the division.

Again, why aren't Champions League level clubs queueing up to take him for a few million euros?

"He's never scored as many like this in a season," adds Michael.

"Despite being the top scorer in the league, this guy doesn't offer too much else around the pitch and if I'm honest and I found him to be quite a lucky striker with rebounds or finishes. I often felt goalkeepers should have done better.

"In saying that, he took his chances and worked hard to be in the right places at the right times but it was a massive surprise he was the league's top scorer.

"He's not wanted by or good enough to play for Ajax or PSV, for example. Feyenoord is one of the clubs rumoured to be interested as they need a new striker but they've ended up at his name after ruling out several others. The reason he's not being linked with the strongest clubs though is he's not at that level after one good season. 

"This jump he's going to take now has to be to a team in a league where he shouldn't find it too hard to score goals and maybe Celtic and the Scottish Premiership fit that. He's also rumoured to be interested in exploring some of the markets remaining open after August 31 and I believe one of those is Turkey. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go there and cash in on the season he's had.

"It's fair to talk about the positives. You don't completely fluke your way to 26 goals and he's known for his first-time finishes. He'll prod it in, head it in and sweep it in. He's not going to run 30 yards and bang one in the top corner from the edge of the box. He's a tap-in merchant."

Giakoumakis is a fair size and stature at 6'1 and 84kg. He does his share of defensive work by battling for the ball, but not in the same style as we've seen from Furuhashi for example, who will run all afternoon to hunt it down and pressure opponents.

Giakoumakis can use his size and strength to beat defenders in the air

Michael expanded: "He's very strong in battling for the ball and trying to win the ball back, but he's not a quick player, he won't do what Furuhashi is doing for you and chase the ball across the pitch to make a slide tackle, but he'll put people under pressure with his strength to win the ball back.

"The Eredivisie isn't a very physical league and if you find the right striker to send cross balls in for, you can get the better of a lot of defenders. His first-time finishes, penalties, calm head, confidence and ball recoveries are all strong points.

READ MORE: Can Ange Postecoglou's high-risk style work for Celtic in the long term?

"In the past, some Dutch Eredivisie goalscorers have gone on to be world-class players, like Luis Suarez and Klaas Jan Huntelaar, or total flops and bang average players like Bas Dost, Alfonso Alves at Middlesborough and Bjorn Vleminckx, who was the top scorer while at NEC Nijmegen and didn't do much after moving to Club Brugge. I'm not sure he'll be a flop, but I think context is needed with his tally. He scored three hat-tricks to boost his total, and I'd struggle to say he's a better player than Donyell Malen for example, who's just left PSV for Borussia Dortmund and was the second top scorer, he's a class act.

"I think Giakoumakis would be wise to go to a better team in a league of similar, or weaker, strength, be one of the main players and score even more goals and that will keep helping him get good pay packets in the future.

"He has to play for a team where he'll play every game. He seems like the kind of individual that's motivated by money, so if he doesn't keep scoring goals it doesn't stand him in good stead for the rest of his career. He needs to be a regular striker wherever he goes and for Celtic, with good service, I think he'd score goals."