Giorgos Giakoumakis has targeted the title of Scotland’s outright top gun next season.
And he’s convinced he can link-up with little livewire Kyogo Furuhashi and running robot Daizen Maeda to help get the job done.
Giakoumakis reckons he’s got unfinished business on the scoring front.
Two goals on the final day against Motherwell saw him join Ross County’s Regan Charles Cook at the summit of the Premiership scoring charts.
Giakoumakis was pleased with that, but not completely satisfied.
Having been robbed of three months of the season due to injury after already being hindered by missing out on pre-season following his late-summer move from VVV Venlo to Parkhead, the Greek says it could have been much better and didn’t produce the numbers he craved.
It has fuelled his fires for next term as he said: “Do I have unfinished business? Yes. I want to be fit and healthy all of the season next year so I can reach the numbers I am thinking about.
“But it’s not about a specific number. It’s about scoring in every single game.
“Of course I will be better next season. Right now I feel I’ve maybe shown 70 percent as I didn’t feel fully fit or healthy in the first six months.
“It will be totally different when I get a full pre-season. I hope next season is going to be amazing.
“Finishing top scorer is one of the targets I have. First of all it’s about winning titles with the team and then it’s being the top scorer in the league.
“I am confident about next season because of the players around me. You need the players around you to be the top goalscorer. Because some one has to give you it!
“I have a lot of confidence in my team-mates as you know you will have a lot of chances. It’s about making sure you are clinical.
“I managed to score two goals on the last day which made me the top scorer of the league and that is something that makes me even happier.
“Winning the title and being top scorer is a great feeling. It could have been better as I lost three months and a pre-season and this made me a little bit frustrated as I couldn’t be myself.
“I couldn’t feel my body being 100 per cent, so it was tough for the first six months.
“But in the end, I’m the top scorer. Not with the amount of goals I wanted to score this season, but I cannot be hard on myself. I have to be happy.”
Giakoumakis proved himself clinical enough in the second half of the campaign as he roared back from that disrupted start to display his class.
The striker needed to step into the breach left by the injured Kyogo and he did so in some style.
Having managed just a solitary strike prior to the mid-season break, Giakoumakis cracked 16 more through the run-in.
It was a crucial contribution when the Japanese was out and the pair alternated starts when Kyogo returned from his hamstring issue.
Ange Postecoglou was not of a mind to pair the duo in the closing stages of the campaign with his system preferring one central attacker and the likes of Maeda, Jota, Liel Abada and James Forrest occupying the wide areas.
Giakoumakis believes they can work as a pairing in the future if the boss fancies it and said: “We haven’t played a lot together this year for different reasons, but it would be really nice and it could work.
“We are so different in our styles of playing. He’s a little guy with great movement, doing a lot of running down the sides.
“Perhaps we could have a good partnership. I think it works so well for the team because we are all so different.
“You look at Daizen. He’s a robot! He can run two 90 minutes in a row! His fitness is really good and it really helps us. You see him attacking and then he is back running helping the defence.
“It really suits our game and the way we play. He’s a big player for us. There are exciting times to come.”
Giakoumakis is loving life under Postecoglou and says he’s just going to keep getting better working for the Aussie.
He said: “It’s something really special for me. I’ve learned so many things from him and I’ve really improved since I came here.
“I can see the difference in my body and in my levels after just one season. Year after year it can be even better. I’m really happy to work with him as he’s helped us a lot.”
Giakoumakis has followed in the footsteps of countryman Georgios Samaras, who was a title winner during his own time at Celtic.
The current hero said: “I haven’t spoken to Samaras this week, but I know he’s really happy we won the league. “He’s a Celtic fan, of course. He told me a lot of good things about coming to Celtic and he was right.
“I know for sure he will be pleased for me to follow him. I love to score big goals in important games.
“I think I can score even more important ones in even bigger games next season.”
