Parkhead striker reminds O’Riley of former Fulham team-mate Mitrovic
Giakoumakis has all the attributes to match Serbian front man, insists former MK Dons playmaker
HE might have spent two seasons in the third tier of English football before moving to Scotland last month, but Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley knows a world-class striker when he sees one.
The 21-year-old, a £1.5m signing from League One outfit MK Dons in the January transfer window, started out in the professional game at Fulham and played alongside Aleksandar Mitrovic there.
The Serbian forward, who cost the runaway Championship leaders £22m back in 2018, has netted no fewer than 36 goals for club and country in the 2021/22 campaign to date. So it takes a lot for a forward to impress his old team-mate.
But O’Riley, who is hoping to start for Celtic in their cinch Premiership encounter with Hibernian at Easter Road this afternoon, can see parallels between Mitrovic and Giorgios Giakoumakis.
The Greece internationalist scored a hat-trick in the league meeting with Dundee in the east end of Glasgow last Sunday to ensure that the home team won 3-2 and moved three points clear of Rangers at the top of the top-flight table.
Giakoumakis struggled with injuries after he completed his £2.5m transfer from VVVVenlo in the Netherlands back in August and had to undergo minor knee surgery in November. However, he is fully fit now and his haul last weekend took his tally for this term to seven.
O’Riley expects the front man to contribute many more during the title run-in as the Premier Sports Cup winners attempt to lift the Premiership and Scottish Cup trophies and complete their fifth domestic treble in six years.
“I think their styles are very similar,” he said. “They’re both very strong and like to hold the ball up. When they’re in the box, they’re very sharp so there are definite similarities there.
“Giorgos is a good option for us and he’s something different to [Daizen] Maeda and Kyogo [Furuhashi].
“It’s better to have different types of players up there. If we
need to use his style in certain types of games, we can go to him.
“It would be nice if he got as many goals as Mitrovic. He’s absolutely flying right now for Fulham. They’ll go up this season and it helps when you’ve got a guy like that scoring so many goals.”
O’Riley, though, knows that Celtic will need to be switched on to the threat another Fulham forward poses in order to avoid a costly slip-up in the capital today when they take on Hibs.
The London-born playmaker knows Sylvester Jasper, the 20-year-old prospect who moved to Leith on loan last month, from his time with the Cottagers and rates him very highly.
“He’s a good player,” O’Riley said. “He’s very positive and a guy who likes to drive at defenders. I’m sure he’ll be one of their guys to watch out. But I’m sure they’ve got quality elsewhere. Hibs are a good side from what I’ve heard. We’ll be ready for him and the rest of the team.
“But Sylv is a guy who can make stuff happen. I’m not sure what his situation is at Fulham, but he’s still really young at 20.
“He’s got plenty of time. The main thing at that age is to play regular football so hopefully he can do that here and he can further his career.”
O’Riley, who has quickly shown why Postecoglou was so keen to secure his services by producing some impressive individual displays for Celtic, welcomes the challenge of having to win every time he takes to the field.
“The pressure is very different here but I’m enjoying it more,” he said. “This is where I want to be. I’d rather be playing under pressure every week because it makes you play better. It makes you perform.
“That’s the challenge I relish. In that sense, it’s been really enjoyable so far. The demands are much higher because a draw is considered a loss here - no matter who you play against.
“But I think that’s pretty cool. It’s cool that you’re expected to win every game because it gets the best out of you.”
The former England Under-18 internationalist’s form with Celtic has led to the possibility that he could get selected by Denmark, where his mother hails from, ahead of the Qatar 2022 finals in November.
He has held talks with national team manager Kapser Hjulmand and spoke with his assistant Morten Wieghorst, the former Celtic and Dundee midfielder, after the first leg of the Conference League knockout round play-off against Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt at Parkhead last week.
If the call comes from the Euro 2020 semi-finalists, who have friendlies against the Netherlands and Serbia coming up next month, the midfielder will be delighted to accept.
“I’ve had brief conversations with members of staff and they wanted to know where my head is at,” he said.
“I’ve said if I get called up, I’m not going to say no.
“It’s not something I would turn down. When the time comes there will be a decision to be made and that’s what I’m excited for.
“It’s a country I feel a strong connection to so if it does happen, at the moment, I’d be saying yes, which is cool.”