Georgios Samaras

Infobox Football biography
playername = Georgios Samaras


fullname = Georgios Samaras
height = Height|ft=6|in=4
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1985|2|21
cityofbirth = Heraklion, Crete
countryofbirth = Greece
currentclub = Celtic
clubnumber = 9
position = Striker
youthyears = -2001
2001–2003
youthclubs = OFI Crete
Heerenveen
years = 2003–2006
2006–2008
2008
2008–
clubs = Heerenveen
Manchester City
→ Celtic (loan)
Celtic
caps(goals) = 088 0(35)
055 0(14)
016 00(5)
008 00(12)
nationalyears = 2006–
nationalteam = Greece
nationalcaps(goals) = 21 0(3)
pcupdate = 3 September, 2008
ntupdate = 11 October 2008

Georgios Samaras ( _el. Γιώργος Σαμαράς) born 21 February 1985 in Heraklion) is a Greek footballer who currently plays as a striker for Celtic. He currently leads the top goal scorers table in the SPL with 12 goals."'

Club career

Heerenveen

Samaras moved to the Netherlands together with his father (ex-professional footballer Giannis) at the age of 16, signing for Heerenveen. He made his first team debut in the 2003-04 season, starting a total of ten matches. This was followed by another successful two seasons in the Dutch top flight before some Premiership clubs started showing interest in the striker. After interest from teams like Arsenal, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/4602012.stm Arsenal show interest in Samaras] BBC article dated 11 January 2006 ] he joined Manchester City for a fee that was close to £2.5 million (rising to £6 million based on player and team performance).

Premiership

Manchester City

His Manchester City debut came in as a substitute against Newcastle United, and he scored his first goal in English football on 12 February 2006 in a 3-2 victory over Charlton Athletic. Following a good start with Manchester City, Samaras had a lacklustre first season in the Premier League during 2006-07, scoring only 6 goals from 42 appearances (most of which were made as a substitute). The highlight of his season was scoring two late goals in a 2-1 victory over Everton. Although Samaras was criticised by some journalists for his lack of goals, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce (who rarely started the Greek), always maintained that he would develop in to a great striker, saying "Georgios is a 21-year-old playing in the Premier League for the first time in his life. He's a young man learning the game in the hardest league to learn [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6205735.stm Man City 2 - Everton 1] BBC article dated 1 January 2007 ] ."

Following the departure of Stuart Pearce, Samaras did not feature in the Premier League for Manchester City in the first two months of the 2007-08 season under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. Some reports claimed that he was on his way out following the signing of eight new players by the new City manager. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/6934784.stm City to sell players after new signings] BBC article dated 7th August 2007 ] However, Samaras refused to leave even after early interest from Middlesbrough [ [http://www.football.co.uk/middlesbrough/boro_interested_in_samaras_251675.shtml Middlesbrough interested in Samaras] football.co.uk article dated 30 August 2007 ] , preferring to fight for his place in the Manchester City team.

On 25 September 2007, Samaras got his first game of the 2007-08 season for City in the Carling Cup game against Norwich. Samaras repaid Eriksson's faith in him by scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute.Samaras featured in a few more Premier League games following that, earning Sven's praises for his work ethic, professionalism and willingness to fight for his place in the team. [ [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1021088_sven_salutes_samaras_effort Sven salutes Samaras effort] Evening News article dated 23 October 2007 ] However transfer speculation continued from teams like Birmingham City [ [http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3070941,00.html McLeish rules out Samaras move] Sky Sports Website] but finally, on 28 January 2008, Celtic signed Samaras on loan until the end of the season, with an option to buy the player at the end of the loan. He was an instant hit, scoring on his debut and was an influential figure in their race to win the title, scoring critical goals.

Celtic took up the option to buy Samaras and he joined them on 15 July 2008, signing a three-year contract.

cottish Premier League

Celtic (Loan)

It was confirmed that he would wear the number 9 jersey for Celtic while on loan. [ [http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_290108120440.aspx Samaras signs for Celtic] Celtic FC official website ] The Greek striker confirmed that as well as helping Celtic, one of the reasons he moved was in order to get more games so that he would be considered for the Greek national team in the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. Samaras scored on his debut for Celtic, coming on as a sub during a 5-1 Scottish Cup victory over Kilmarnock. His successful start continued with goals against Hibernian, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Gretna in his first few games. He then added again to his goal tally by heading the only goal against Aberdeen in a 1-0 win on 19 April. Georgios scored again after coming on as a substitute against Motherwell and heading in a Barry Robson corner to seal Celtic's 3 points. The final result was Motherwell 1 - Celtic 2. The season ended in triumph for Samaras with Celtic becoming SPL champions on the last day of the league, gaining Samaras his first Championship medal.

Celtic

On 15 July 2008 he signed permanently from Manchester City after agreeing a 3 year contract with the Scottish club for an undisclosed fee of around £1.5m. [ [http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_150708110319.aspx Samaras pens permanent deal] Gregor Kyle, Celtic FC official website. Retrieved 2008-10-03 ] After signing the permanent contract, he scored his first two goals of the 2008/2009 season against Falkirk on August 23. Samaras continued his good start to the season by scoring an equaliser against Old Firm rivals Rangers, however Celtic would go on to lose the game 4-2. The following games yielded a brace against Motherwell and yet another two goals against Kilmarnock in a 3-1 win at Rugby Park. Samaras went on to net a third consecutive double in Celtic's League Cup tie at home to Livingston, scooping another Man of the Match award in the process. He scored his 10th Goal of the season in all competitions on the 4th of October 2008 when he scored Celtic's second goal of the game in a 4-0 win over Hamilton Academical. Georgios was also named player of the month for September.

International career

Samaras was eligible to play for Australia as a youngster. His father Giannis was born in Melbourne but eventually moved to Greece at the age of 13 and had a successful career in football himself, playing for Panathinaikos and the national team. His grandfather (also Georgios) was one of the founding members of South Melbourne FC [ [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/05/23/1148150255018.html?page=fullpage Star who slipped the net] Australian article dated 24 May 2006 ] . Although technically eligible, the opportunity to play for Australia was never pursued as Samaras chose to play for the country of his nationality.

He made his debut for Greece only 7 days after his 21st birthday on 28 February 2006 in a friendly game against Belarus, in which he scored the only goal of the game. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SPORT/football/02/28/cyprus.tournament/index.html Greece owe it to Samaras on debut] CNN 2006-02-28. Retrieved 2008-10-03. ] He featured in Greece's Euro 2008 qualifiers and was a member of the unsuccessful Greek squad at the finals.

tatistics

"Last updated 4 October 2008"

Honours

*"'flagicon|Scotland Celtic F.C.
*Winners
**"'Scottish Premier League 2007-08

*Individual
**SPL Player of the Month - September 2008

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=34693|name=Georgios Samaras
* [http://www.footballdatabase.com/site/players/index.php?dumpPlayer=6877 FootballDatabase.com Profile]
* [http://www.feedthegreek.tk Georgios Samaras Unofficial Fan Site]