Georgios Samaras

Georgios Samaras ( el, Γεώργιος Σαμαράς, ; born 21 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Samaras started his career at OFI Crete, before moving on to Eredivisie side Heerenveen in 2001. He made his first team debut two years later and after a further three seasons with the club he moved to Premier League club Manchester City for a fee of £6 million in 2006. After Sven-Göran Eriksson took over as manager Samaras fell out of favour with the first team. In January 2008 he was loaned out to Scottish Premier League team Celtic, moving on a permanent basis in the summer.

Samaras helped Celtic win Scottish league championships in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014, totalling 74 goals in 249 competitive games. He left the club at the end of his contract in 2014 and returned to the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion, where he featured rarely and had an unsuccessful loan to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. In March 2016, he joined North American Soccer League expansion team Rayo OKC, and when they shut down after one season he signed for Real Zaragoza.

Although eligible to play for Australia, because his father Ioannis Samaras was born in Melbourne, Samaras chose to represent his country of birth, Greece. He made his debut in 2006, and became a regular over the next eight years, earning 81 caps and scoring 9 goals. He represented his country at Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup, Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.

Early life

Samaras was born in Heraklion, the capital city of the Greek island of Crete to a Melbourne-born father who settled back to Greece before Georgios birth. His grandfather Georgios was from Arnaia and also one of the founders of Australian side South Melbourne FC.

His favourite footballer growing up was Marco van Basten. Samaras was also a keen basketball fan and his father, Ioannis Samaras, often let him stay up until the early hours of the morning so he could watch his hero Michael Jordan.

In 1994, when he was 10 years old, Samaras joined his boyhood heroes, OFI Crete. His father was playing for them at the time and then retired in 1996. Six months later, he became Academy chief manager, a position he retained until 2000, when he became manager. Samaras credits his father highly with helping start his football career. His influence meant that Samaras trained every day of his childhood and he also got to spend a lot of time behind the scenes at OFI. Samaras left for Eredivisie club Heerenveen in 2001.

Club career

Heerenveen

Samaras broke into the Heerenveen team during the 2002–03 season, still aged only 18. He scored three goals in his first four appearances, all of which were from the bench. This form prompted Heerenveen activate a three-year extension clause in his contract.

Samaras' first goal of the 2003–04 season came, on 25 October, in a shock 2–1 loss for Heerenveen against NEC Nijmegen. On 3 December, Samaras scored as Heerenveen beat ADO Den Haag 2–0. His next goal came 10 days later as he scored an equaliser to secure a draw 1–1 for Heerenveen against RBC Roosendaal. He then scored on 20 December, as Heerenveen beat Roda JC 2–1.

Samaras' first goal of the 2004–05 season came on 11 September, in a 2–0 win over De Graafschap. He then scored a last-minute winner on 3 October, as Heerenveen secure all three points against ADO Den Haag. On 28 November, Samaras scored one of Heerenveen's goals as they staged a late comeback against title-chasing Feyenoord, and secured a 2–2 draw. He then scored on 22 January, as Heerenveen, who were performing very well in the Eredivisie, beat Den Bosch 2–1. On 12 March, Samaras scored an equaliser against RKC Waalwijk, but Heerenveen then conceded a late goal and fell to a 2–1 defeat. On 2 April, Samaras scored to help Heerenveen secure a shock 2–1 victory over Ajax. A fortnight later, Samaras scored the equaliser as Heerenveen came from behind to beat Vitesse Arnhem 3–1. This win moved Heerenveen up to fifth in the table. In the next match Samaras, along with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, scored a hat-trick as relegation candidates RBC Roosendaal were defeated 7–1 and Heerenveen pushed to finish the league in a European spot.

At the start of the 2005–06 season, Sevilla were reported to be interested in Samaras as a replacement for Júlio Baptista. While Arsenal were also looking at him after they had missed out on signing Baptista, some news organisations had reported that Arsenal had already signed Samaras and that he would join at the end of the season. However, the player's father, Ioannis Samaras said that this was untrue and that his son wanted to stay at the club for another year. Samaras scored on the opening day of the season, on 20 August, when he helped Heerenveen to a 5–4 victory over Roda JC. He picked up a minor leg injury in September, which ruled him out of Heerenveen's UEFA Cup tie against Baník Ostrava. But he returned to action on 23 September, and scored as Heerenveen beat NEC Nijmegen 2–1. On 14 December, Samaras scored as Heerenveen came back from behind to beat Levski Sofia 2–1 in the UEFA Cup. On 30 December, Samaras scored twice as Heerenveen beat Ajax 4–2. In January 2006, Arsenal and Manchester City showed interest in signing the striker. Samaras tried to get released from his contract after Heerenveen had rejected a bid from Manchester City. However, the Dutch arbitration commission ruled that he had no grounds to end his contract. Samaras scored 25 goals in 88 appearances for Heerenveen.Georgios Samaras
Soccerbase; Retrieved 18 June 2012

Manchester City

Samaras moved to Manchester City on 30 January 2006 for a fee of £6 million, a record for a Greek player. He was given the number 20 shirt. Samaras made his debut for City on 1 February, as a 65th-minute replacement for Cole in a 3–0 home win against Newcastle United. His first goal for the club came in the following home match, against Charlton Athletic. The following month Samaras scored in a 2–1 home win against Aston Villa, to put City through to the quarter-finals of the League Cup. This was his fourth goal in six appearances. Samaras scored one further goal that season, in a 2–1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

2006–07

Samaras' first goal of the 2006–07 season came on 20 September, despite this, City lost 2–1 in the League Cup to League One side Chesterfield. Four days later, Samaras scored twice, as Manchester City beat West Ham United 2–0. City had won just three of their previous 16 games, and the club, as well as Samaras, had been receiving a lot of criticism from fans.
On 2 January, Samaras came on as a half-time substitute, and scored twice, as they beat Everton 2–1.

In March, the ''Daily Mirror'' reported that the reason Manchester City were struggling so badly was that they didn't have any quality strikers. They went on say that the £6 million spent on Samaras looked like "very bad business" especially compared to the £2.5 million Blackburn Rovers had spent on Benni McCarthy. They also described Samaras as looking like a "fish out of water" as he struggled to adapt to the different style of play in England. On 10 March, defender Richard Dunne said that he felt the reason that City were performing so badly was that their foreign players, including Samaras, were letting the side down by not working hard enough. Samaras responded to his criticisms, by saying that he felt it was Pearce's fault that he wasn't playing well because the manager wasn't giving him a regular run of games. He also said that he felt a lot of criticism stemmed from his high transfer fee, saying that it is normal for expensive players to be criticised more than most when they don't play well. Samaras also said that he had come through tougher periods than this and his self-belief would not be shaken, he said that his desire was to become a Champions League player.

2007–08

Sven-Göran Eriksson took over from Pearce for the 2007–08 season and, following a spending spree, Samaras was reportedly deemed surplus to requirements by the new manager. Samaras' agent Paul Koutsoliakos said that, despite interest from across Europe, his client wanted to stay in the Premier League and prove his ability. Samaras was linked with a £2.5 million move to Middlesbrough towards the end of the transfer window but ended up staying at City. Eriksson stated that although he was unimpressed with Samaras when he first joined, he felt the player had improved and adapted his style of play a lot during pre-season and that he now felt comfortable keeping him at the club.
Samaras had been widely criticised, and even booed, by City fans at times during the previous season and Eriksson said that he hoped it would not happen again and that he appreciated why Samaras could have found it hard to play under those circumstances. Samaras was behind the likes of Valeri Bojinov and Rolando Bianchi in the pecking order and was included in the squad for the first time only on 25 September, when he was selected for a League Cup match against Norwich City. He started the match and scored a last-minute winner to put Manchester City into the quarter-final.

By the time the January transfer window came, Eriksson had decided to sell Samaras, amongst others, to try and raise funds for the club. Birmingham City had chased him for several weeks and had a £2.5 million offer accepted, meeting Manchester City's valuation of the player, but they pulled out of the deal with a week of the transfer window remaining. Several teams including Rangers, Middlesbrough, Espanyol, Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic had expressed an interest in signing him, but it was Celtic to whom he eventually moved.

Samaras failed to get a regular place in the first team over the two years he was at Manchester City. Mainly used as a substitute, he scored 12 goals in 63 appearances for the Eastlands club.Georgios Samaras
ESPN Soccernet

Celtic

On 29 January 2008, Samaras signed for Scottish Premier League club Celtic on a six-month loan deal, with the club having an option to buy him at the end of his loan spell. He said that he wanted the move because he needed to be playing first team football to get into the Greece squad for Euro 2008. He also said that he was attracted to the fact that he would regularly be able to play in European competition with Celtic.

Samaras was given the number 9 shirt and made his debut on 4 February, in a 5–1 win in the Scottish Cup. He scored the final goal of the game after coming on as a substitute. On 20 February, he came on as a substitute in Celtic's 3–2 defeat to Barcelona, this was his first ever Champions League match. A week later he scored the winner in a 2–1 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle to help Celtic keep up the pressure on league leaders Rangers. He then scored in Celtic's next match, a 2–0 win over Hibernian, after coming on as a substitute. Samaras' next goal came on 23 March, he again came on as a substitute and rounded off the scoring in a 3–0 win over Gretna. On 19 April, he scored the only goal of the game as Celtic beat Aberdeen 1–0, and moved to the top of the league for the first time in 2008. The next month, on 3 May, Samaras again came on as a substitute and scored the winner. His goal gave Celtic a 2–1 victory over Motherwell and kept up Celtic's late challenge for the league title. Celtic won the title on the last day of the season, 22 May, by beating Dundee United 1–0. Samaras came on as a late substitute and collected his first winners' medal after the match.

Samaras' contribution in the second half of the season proved vital to Celtic winning the title, he scored several important goals which kept alive Celtic's faltering title hopes. His signing was also credited with reviving the previously underperforming Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

2008–09

After his successful loan spell, Samaras left Manchester City on 15 July 2008 and signed a three-year contract with Celtic. Although the fee was not disclosed, it was reported to be between £1 million and £3 million. Samaras' first goals of the 2008–09 season came on 23 August. He scored twice as Celtic beat Falkirk 3–0. On 13 September, he scored another two goals as Celtic beat Motherwell 4–2. He scored twice again in Celtic's next match as they beat Kilmarnock 3–1. He then scored another two goals as Celtic beat Livingston 4–0 and advanced to the League Cup quarter-final. He was named SPL Player of the Month for September, at this point he was also the top scorer with seven goals.

Samaras suffered a knee cartilage injury in mid-October, after a successful operation he was expected to be out for a month. This meant he would be likely to miss crucial Champions League ties against Manchester United and Aalborg. He returned earlier than expected and was back in training on 9 November, having missed seven games. Samaras returned to action on 12 November, coming on as a substitute in a 3–0 win over Kilmarnock. On 25 November he started against Aalborg but did not play well and missed several chances as Celtic lost 2–1. This loss consigned Celtic to a bottom place finish in their group.

His first goals of the new year came on, on 4 January, as he scored twice against Dundee United. However, this was not enough for a victory and the match finished 2–2. Although he did not start in the League Cup Final due to poor form, he did come on as a substitute as Celtic beat Rangers 2–0 and won the trophy. Samaras scored twice on 4 April, as Celtic beat Hamilton Academical 4–0. Celtic lost the title on the last day of the season. Samaras scored 17 goals, with 15 of them coming in the SPL. This made him the third top scorer behind Kris Boyd and team mate Scott McDonald.

2009–10

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan left at the end of the season and was replaced by Tony Mowbray. On 5 August, Samaras scored in injury time of Celtic's Champions League third qualifying round tie against Dynamo Moscow. This goal won Celtic the tie, 2–1 on aggregate, and helped them to their first European away win in six years. Celtic then drew English Premier League club Arsenal, but lost 5–1 on aggregate and subsequently dropped into the Europa League. On 13 December, Samaras scored in Celtic's 3–2 win over Motherwell, this was his fifth goal in the club's previous four matches. He scored in Celtic's 2–1 defeat against Hearts on 19 December. This left Celtic four points behind rivals Rangers going into Christmas. From February onwards, Samaras was mainly played out of position on the left of midfield.

Celtic endured a dismal season, culminating in a humiliating 2–0 loss to lower league Ross County in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup