To watch Giorgos Giakoumakis in action with Atlanta United is to witness the archetypal striker, arguably the purest goal scorer in Major League Soccer today.
And yet the Greek star, a two-time Golden Boot winner in two separate European leagues, came close to never discovering the classic No. 9 position he was seemingly born to play.
“Till 16-and-a-half years old, I was a midfielder,” Giakoumakis revealed in the latest Offside with Taylor Twellman episode. “[I was] a six. A holding six.”
On top of that, the then-teenaged Giakoumakis was barely getting any minutes in the Greek fourth division.
“I wasn’t even playing. I was benched,” Giakoumakis said.
Built to score
Fortunately for Giakoumakis, fate and a new head coach had other plans for him.
“We changed the manager in the first team. In the summer we had a trial, like a training to see how is the second team players,” the 29-year-old remembered. “We had a break and he comes to me and said, ‘Dude, you’re not the holding midfielder. Try to go up front.’
“I went up front. In 10 minutes, I scored two goals.”
Those 10 minutes, and two goals, forever changed the course of Giakoumakis’ career. Now a full-fledged striker, the youngster jumped from the Greek fourth division to the top flight with Platanias FC and produced a career-defining 2016-17 season with 12g/3a in all competitions. All this after suffering a devastating ACL injury the previous year.
“[The manager] said to me, ‘You know what? I believe in you. I’m not going to sign any striker,” Giakoumakis said. “Doesn’t matter for me that you’re coming from [an] ACL. I know you’re going to be okay.'
“So I started playing since the very first day again, I played a full season. I scored 12 goals.”
That breakout season led to a move to AEK Athens in July 2017, seemingly setting up Giakoumakis for even greater heights.
Unfortunately, the opposite happened. The striker’s career suddenly stalled as he struggled to gain regular playing time with one of Greece’s traditional powerhouses.
“AEK Athens, they had no plan for me,” said Giakoumakis, convinced the club signed him to keep away from their domestic rivals. “That was unacceptable.”
“In Greece, it’s funny but it’s painful at the same time. Until 25 you’re a talent, so you can wait. At 26, you’re [expletive] old. You haven’t played yet. What do you want?
“It was a big blow in my career. I lost four or five [years] of my development in football and I would be a totally different player,” he said. “Maybe I would be softer, but I wouldn’t go through a depression because I was depressed.”
Dutch redemption
That depression eventually turned into fuel for Giakoumakis to keep pushing and fighting for a chance.
“I became hungrier,” he said. “But what if I was even more capable of finding ways to score goals during my game?”
Giakoumakis most certainly found ways to score goals, and then some, at new club VVV-Venlo. In his lone season in the Dutch Eredivisie (2020-21), the striker had a league-best 26 goals in 30 games, earning him his first Golden Boot award
To say the recognition was sweet for Giakoumakis after a particularly bitter experience at AEK Athens would be an understatement.
“It was more like a reaction,” he said. “It was more like, ‘You [expletive]. Now you’re going to see.'”
Celtic come calling
While Giakoumakis was hitting a career apex, VVV-Venlo were being relegated to the Dutch second division after a second-to-last-place finish in the league.
With player and club going in different directions, Giakoumakis was transferred to Scottish Premiership giants Celtic FC in August 2021.
“It’s a massive club, and the fans are making it a massive club. They just breathe for football,” GG said of the legendary Celtic fanbase. “Nothing else. Nothing else.”
Once again, Giakoumakis had to prove himself.
“It started with a big pressure, with some doubts on me, and it was normal,” he said. “We signed a dude that was relegated in Eredivisie.”
Rather than buckle, Giakoumakis embraced the massive expectations head-on.
His first order of business was claiming jersey No. 7, which previously belonged to club legend Henrik Larsson. Then came the goals, 13 to be exact, during the 2021-22 Scottish Premiership season – good for his second straight Golden Boot title.
Giakoumakis would go on to score 26g/2a in 57 total appearances for Celtic, winning a league title and two Scottish Cups. But the good times wouldn’t last, with the club refusing to improve the player’s contract situation.
“Then I said, ‘Okay, you know what? Now you have to give me what I deserve,'” he said. “I was waiting. And then they said no.”
Atlanta's main man
That impasse opened the door for Atlanta United to swoop in for Giakoumakis, who was entertaining several European suitors at the time.
“Carlos [Bocanegra, Atlanta vice president and technical director] was the only one, the only director that flew to Glasgow just to meet me,” GG said. “And I really appreciated that. They showed me straight away that, you know what, you’re really important. We don’t care if you’re going to be able to sign for [us] or not, we just want to meet you.”
Atlanta's courtship impressed Giakoumakis enough to sign a Designated Player deal ahead of the 2023 season – the club’s first without club legend Josef Martínez.
Once again, Giakoumakis was thrust into the role of replacing a club legend. And once again, it barely fazed him.
“The fans really have a bond with the former striker here,” Giakoumakis said of Martínez, a 2018 MLS Cup and Golden Boot presented by Audi winner with the Five Stripes. “And I said, ‘He’s a former striker. It’s not the striker of the team anymore.’ So I feel no pressure. You give [Martinez’s old No. 7] to me and don’t worry about that. I’m going to be okay.”
Giakoumakis did more than “okay.” Forming a fearsome attacking partnership with playmaker Thiago Almada, the Greek striker scored 17 non-penalty goals to finish second in the Golden Boot race as Atlanta boasted the second-best offense in MLS last season (66 goals).
These performances helped the club reach the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs (losing to eventual champions Columbus Crew in Round One) and earn Giakoumakis 2023 MLS Newcomer of the Year honors, besting none other than Inter Miami CF superstar Lionel Messi and St. Louis CITY SC’s Eduard Löwen.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said of the distinction.
More motivated than ever
Now in his second MLS season, Giakoumakis is setting the bar as high as ever for himself and his club. Atlanta have done their part, making several key offseason additions to add depth to a squad with clear trophy ambitions.
As one of the centerpieces of the Five Stripes project, Giakoumakis knows he needs to deliver as well. So far in 2024 he’s doing just that, producing 5g/1a to date despite missing time due to international commitments with Greece and a knee injury.
And with two young children to take care of along with his wife Sonia, the 29-year-old has found new sources of inspiration to keep the goals coming week after week.
“Every time that I score my first goal in a game, I have specific order from my son, how to celebrate,” Giakoumakis told Twellman. “He’s obsessed with what I do, he’s obsessed with daddy. He’s obsessed with scoring goals.”
Fortunately for the younger Giakoumakis, so is his dad.
“That would be the greatest achievement of my career, if my son is proud of me,” Giakoumakis said. “Then I don’t want anyone else to feel proud of me. No one else.”
