Primera Liga new boys Hercules have expressed an interest in signing Georgios Samaras and are awaiting an answer from Celtic.
The Greece international is currently featuring on Celtic's pre-season tour of North America and opened the scoring in Sunday's win over Seattle.
However, he is attracting interest from several clubs across Europe and was wanted by Italian side Palermo before the World Cup finals.
Samaras' lawyer responded to those rumours by stating the 25-year-old would see out the final 12 months of his contract at Parkhead, but he may now have an offer from Hercules to consider.
Hercules' coach Esteban Vigo believes that Samaras is just the type of player they need following the club's promotion to the top flight.
"Samaras could be a key piece in our project to stay in La Liga next season," said Vigo in the Daily Record.
"We believe he has the same style of Nikola Zigic, who was a success at Valencia before being sold to Birmingham.
"We think Samaras can solve our problems in attack. He has other offers from European clubs, but we have made our interest known and expect an answer this week."
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...269502,00.html
Last edited by mcfitz; 19-07-2010 at 03:33 PM.
If Sammy leaves, we're in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. Stay Sammy, stay.
Lennon hit it on the head Sam is an enigma, but if he ever hits consistent form he would be some player. Problem he has is his style does not transfer well into Scottish football or Celtic in particular, he is a bit of a Jessie and we expect our players to bleed for the cause. He will never be accepted by a percentage of the support and as such his confidence will always suffer, which for a player who needs to feel loved makes his form inconsistent catch 22 really......
Unless we bring in at least 2 good strikers, we can't afford to be without Samaras, as pathetic as that is.
I hope Sammy goes, he's awful, just because he's played good in a few friendlies doesn't excuse him from the poor season he's given just gone
Why are we bringing in 7,000 midfielders and no strikers?
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「Every good Tim has a Tattoo, Fucked a whore, and at least one Infraction」
~ Chesty Puller
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As much as he irritates me we can,t let him go without bringing in another one or two strikers .
Thanks for the memories Sammi, now off you go.
we're fucked either way for strikers atm.
So I didn't see anything in the article the first time around -- any mention elsewhere of what kind of fee we're talking about here.
__________________________________________________
「Every good Tim has a Tattoo, Fucked a whore, and at least one Infraction」
~ Chesty Puller
http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/4964/hondagoal2.gif
Georgios Samaras' pre-season form could lead Celtic manager Neil Lennon to have second thoughts about offloading the striker - despite a bid from Hercules.
The Greece forward has scored twice on Celtic's North American tour - in a 3-1 defeat by Manchester United then Sunday's 2-1 win over Seattle Sounders.
"Hercules have put a bid in for him, but I don't know how much or how concrete it is," said Lennon.
"He's a bit of an enigma and has certainly given us food for thought."
Samaras appeared likely to exit Celtic after Lennon recruited striker Daryl Murphy from Sunderland this summer.
The Greek has a year left of his contract, with the Glasgow club risking losing him for nothing next summer should he remain at Celtic Park.
And Alicante-based Hercules have targeted the 25-year-old, who joined Celtic from Manchester City in 2008, after their promotion to La Liga.
"We'll contemplate what we are going to do over the next few days," said Lennon.
"But he is one of those players with a year to go on his contract, so maybe we'll wait until we get back and see where we go with it."
Hercules have ended a 13-year absence from Spain's top flight and coach Esteban Vigo believes he needs another striker.
"We think Samaras can solve our problems in attack," he said of the man who played for his country at this summer's World Cup finals.
The Greek, who was a substitute against United, had started the match this time along with Morten Rasmussen, with Paddy McCourt operating behind the strikers and forward Cillian Sheridan playing in an unfamiliar left-back position.
Samaras, who had scored against the English side on Friday from the penalty spot, did so again against Seattle after he himself was brought down by goalkeeper Terry Boss on the half-hour mark.
The Major League Soccer side were reduced to 10 men as Boss was shown a red card and Milan Misun set up McCourt to stroke home the second after the break.
A long-range drive from David Estrada pulled a goal back and the striker sent another effort off a post, but Celtic held on for their first victory of their North American tour.
The Glasgow side, who lost their opener 1-0 to Philadelphia Union, now head to Boston, where they will face Sporting Lisbon.
Lennon said there were some minor injury concerns over defenders Glenn Loovens and Thomas Rogne and midfielders Scott Brown and Joe Ledley, but all are expected to be fit for next week's Champions League opener against Sporting Braga.
However, new signing Efrain Juarez is set to miss out though after returning to Mexico to arrange a visa after completing a medical with Celtic in Seattle ahead of his move to Glasgow
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