GIORGOS GIAKOUMAKIS jokes that he is still waiting on his trophy to mark his achievement of being the Scottish Premiership’s top scorer last season, but the Celtic striker received an honour that meant a great deal more to him over the summer in any case.
Footage emerged on social media of a clearly emotional Giakoumakis recognised by his home village of Atsalenios, a suburb of Heraklion, for everything that he has achieved in football to date. To make the moment all the more poignant, his elderly grandfather – also Giorgos - was on hand to present him with his award.
It was a moment that hammered home just how much he is carrying the hopes of his family and the wider community with him as he blazes his trail in Scottish football.
He is now determined to do them all proud on the Champions League stage, as well as by maintaining his position as Scotland’s top marksman. If he can do that, it would make for a heck of a party in Crete next summer.
“It was something really emotional,” Giakoumakis said. “My grandfather is very old, he is 94 years old. So it was a special day for me that I will always remember.
“They just gave me an honour because it is my village. It is where I come from and they had a big festival, a big party. We also had some musicians. It was something amazing. They just gave me this trophy in order to give me an honour.
“He was always proud. They always want you to have success in your life, your grandfather, your father, your family, they already feel proud no matter what you do in your life. So even more when you are a successful football player, and he always loved football.”
Topping the scoring charts may prove even more difficult than last season, when the Greek managed the feat despite injury and illness wreaking havoc with his first six months at Celtic, and him netting only once prior to the winter break.
His colleague Kyogo has warned his teammate that he is coming for his crown, and it may well be something for Celtic fans to witness the pair trying to outdo one another in the coming season as their friendly rivalry drives each of them on to new heights.
“First of all, I’m still waiting for my trophy,” he laughed. “Where’s my trophy? Maybe they lost it, I don’t know. We will see.
“It suits the strikers [in this team], who have better chances to score. That’s one of my main targets this year, to score as many as possible. Why not be the top scorer in the league? Alone…”
Does that mean there is even more to come from the forward with what he hopes will be a full pre-season behind him?
“Yes, of course,” he said. “Last year, I was struggling a lot. I think I had almost three pre-seasons, or four, I can’t remember.
“It was a season when I was struggling a lot, but I was fighting with my heart because you are not happy about it and you must have a good pre-season, a hard pre-season, in order to help you during the season that is coming.
“This year is going to be better. I try to improve push a lot. I try to stay healthy, stay fit and it’s going to be totally different.”
Giakoumakis is relishing the chance to test himself once more at Champions League level, having sampled the tournament when he was at AEK Athens. He is certain he can make an impact there, just as he has with the step up to Celtic from VVV-Venlo.
“I will always try to make an impact whatever I play in,” he said. “I try to change my level, I try to push myself, to improve myself a lot.
“The Champions League is something amazing, the best league that a player can play in in Europe. It makes me feel like we are at the top level.”
Giakoumakis got off the mark in pre-season with a spectacular effort against Banik Ostrava in Wednesday night’s friendly. It was an example of how sharp he feels after having some notable success over the early summer with his national side too.
“I always try to work as much as possible in order to improve myself,” he said. “If everyone in the team keeps improving individually, the team can change levels. That’s what I do. I try to improve myself.
“I work a lot and I will keep working in the future. It’s also nice because I had some success with the national team. That was something I was waiting for. I have been looking forward to this success for many, many years. I try to change my level every day.
“It was a good game [against Banik]. It’s always good to try to get a positive result, even in friendly games. I think this game was better than the last one [against Rapid Vienna].
“We tried to impose our intensity. We tried to play our game. We have a lot more to improve but we are improving day by day.
“Also, I am very happy because I scored but it doesn’t matter for me if it’s a nice goal or not. I try to score as many as possible.
“That was what I kept telling last year and my method is exactly the same.”
