Despite complaining for most of his loan spell, Celtic have clinched the signing of Manchester City’s out-of-favour Greek striker.
Georgios Samaras has signed a three-year contract with the Glasgow club, despite scoring only 6 goals last season and failing to break up the first-choice strike partnership of Scott McDonald and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
The move represents a big loss for Manchester City, who allowed Stuart Pearce to give £6 million to Dutch side Heerenveen in January 2006. However, Samaras was never a hit, scoring only 12 goals during his time at Eastlands.
The move is an odd one from a Celtic point-of-view. Yes, his goals were crucial in the title run-in, but he was complaining about getting too much time on the bench in March. With McDonald and Vennegoor sharing a great strike rate, does Gordon Strachan have cause to change his first-choice strikers?
But at only 23-years-old, there is plenty of time for his attitude to change and his potential to return.