Is Giakoumakis agent change actually good news for Celtic?

It has been painted as the ultimate doom-and-gloom scenario hasn't it?

Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis switched agents in the middle of the campaign. That means one thing, doesn't it? The Greek is leaving the club in January. He must be. It's gospel.

Yes, that's right. I remember the player confirming it himself when I read it in the... er, no, he hasn't actually uttered these words.

Surely Hoops boss Ange Postecoglou must have nailed it to the mast when he said in an interview... ah, nope, nothing from the Australian on that front either.

Postecoglou doesn't do drama. He doesn't do theatre either - whether that be historical, comedic or, in this case, Greek tragedy.

Giakoumakis ended his six-to-seven-year relationship with Emmanouilidis-Pathiakakis and signed with BHM Sports Agency. The agency already represents Celtic team-mate Carl Starfelt.

The striker, who let's not forget is still under contract until 2026, is said to be seeking a new challenge, according to Greek outlet Sportime.

The English Premier League is reportedly Giakoumakis's preferred destination of choice. That's hardly surprising as the division is viewed as the land of milk and honey and lots of players wish to ply their trade there.

Yet here is the stinger: Sportime goes on to claim it would take a fee of between €6 and €7 million for Celtic to sell the striker in the transfer window next month.

Between six and seven million euros? There must be some mistake.

Giakoumakis has played 21 times for Celtic so far this season in all competitions. He has scored eight goals and has one assist to his credit.

Last season, Giakoumakis netted 17 times for Celtic across the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Cup and League Cup. The Hoops won two pieces of silverware. He was the joint top league marksman alongside Regan Charles-Cook of Ross County.

The campaign before joining Celtic, he was also the top goalscorer in the Dutch Eredivisie with a club, VVV Venlo, that ended up being relegated despite his prowess in front of goal.

That's prized asset material if you ask me. Giakoumakis is not the kind of player that you would let go to a Premier League club for the figures quoted.

One of the first rules in journalism is never to just implicitly trust football agents. Let's just say they can be economical with the truth and we'll leave it at that. Not all of them, of course, but there are some who you can never establish dialogue or a decent rapport with.

That's the nature of the business; you never deal with agents until the transfer window comes around, then all of a sudden they become the most important people on planet football.

What if there is a simple explanation in all of this and Giakoumakis changing agents mid-season is merely coincidental?

Why does the negative spin here have to be that he's switched agents to secure a dream move to England? Giakoumakis is at a dream club in Celtic. He is idolised by the support.

At the risk of repeating myself, he is valued highly by the manager and a big-game player for the Hoops. He is competing for - and winning - silverware while he has already notched a goal in the Champions League group stages.

Is Giakoumakis so unhappy that he is willing to give all that up? As Postecoglou has previously stated: good luck in finding that kind of football happiness elsewhere.

There is also a narrative out there that the player, who has a young family remember, is actually very happy in Glasgow.

Here's a thought: what if the very fact that Giakoumakis has changed his agent is in order to get the best possible deal from Celtic and actually thrash out an amicable settlement and deal once and for all. What if all parties were to get around the table and sort Giakoumakis's future out?

That would be good news for Celtic, wouldn't it? Why does it always have to be bad news week?

Has anybody considered the possibility that this could actually be good news for Celtic with regard to Giakoumakis's personal and contractual situation?

You would be forgiven for thinking that Celtic were nine points clear in the Scottish Premiership title race and everything was rosy in the garden.

Sabre-rattling or not, there are only a handful of people who truly are in the know and they will all decide Giakoumakis's next move in the coming weeks. They are Giakoumakis himself, his agent, Postecoglou and Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson.

So far there hasn't been a cheep from any of those parties on whether or not the Greek will exit stage left and walk through the famous Paradise glass doors for the last time.

This piece is an extract from today’s Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team. 

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