---
title: "Celtic: Kieran Devlin reveals ‘ongoing’ Giorgos Giakoumakis issue"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/celtic-kieran-devlin-reveals-ongoing-giorgos-giakoumakis-issue/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "David Comerford"
section: "Celtic News"
published: "2021-10-18T10:35:52Z"
modified: "2021-10-18T10:35:52Z"
---

# Celtic: Kieran Devlin reveals ‘ongoing’ Giorgos Giakoumakis issue

**Celtic’s Giorgos Giakoumakis has persistently struggled for fitness during his career, [The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/2888804/2021/10/15/celtic-score-motherwell-premiership/)‘s Kieran Devlin has revealed.**

### The lowdown

Having [led the Eredivisie scoring charts last season](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11787/12396075/celtic-transfer-news-georgios-giakoumakis-joins-parkhead-side-from-vvv-venlo-on-a-five-year-deal), Giakoumakis joined Celtic on the final day of the summer transfer window for a fee of [up to £2.5m](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11787/12396075/celtic-transfer-news-georgios-giakoumakis-joins-parkhead-side-from-vvv-venlo-on-a-five-year-deal).

He was brought in as a replacement for Odsonne Edouard, who left to join Crystal Palace, but as we pass mid-October, the Greece international has only played [33 minutes of football](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/georgios-giakoumakis/leistungsdaten/spieler/234850) for the Hoops.

Giakoumakis has apparently looked [‘rusty to put it mildly’](https://theathletic.com/2814416/2021/09/10/celtic-score-ross-county-2/) in Ange Postecoglou’s training sessions and [suffered a calf injury in the warm-up](https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/every-celtic-injury-expected-return-25060341) for the Premier Sports Cup tie against Raith Rovers last month.

### The latest

In a Q&A for [The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/2888804/2021/10/15/celtic-score-motherwell-premiership/) following the weekend win over Motherwell, Devlin was asked by a Celtic supporter to shed some light on ‘why it has taken so long for \[Giakoumakis\] to be fit’.

In reply, he said ‘that fitness issue is an ongoing thing’ for the 26-year-old.

‘Speaking to people who have known him before’, Devlin was left with the impression that Giakoumakis’ largely healthy 2020/21 season – [he started 30 of VVV Venlo’s 34 Eredivisie games](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/347809/History/Giorgos-Giakoumakis) – was ‘an anomaly with his form and fitness’.

### The verdict

This is very worrying to hear for Celtic fans. It suggests that the club may struggle to get their replacement for Edouard, [who scored 86 goals in 179 appearances](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/odsonne-edouard/leistungsdaten/spieler/344152) at Parkhead, fit and firing.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Giakoumakis’ prolific 2020/21 season did prove to be an ‘anomaly’ in terms of his form, either, as he only netted three goals in 48 outings for his previous club [AEK Athens](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/georgios-giakoumakis/leistungsdaten/spieler/234850).

Could this prove to be a costly recruitment mistake from Celtic? Let’s hope the Greek striker doesn’t end up being too injury-prone to get a proper chance to prove himself in Glasgow.

**In other news, [the stats show these were Celtic’s poorest performers at the weekend](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/celtic-news/kyogo-abada-hart-motherwell-spfl/)**