Atlanta United’s Giorgos Giakoumakis learned to work through difficulties

It was stifling hot. Atlanta United’s training session was over. But Giorgos Giakoumakis wasn’t done working.

An assistant coach began passing the ball to him. Giakoumakis would take a touch with his right foot and shoot. Then another to his left foot and another shot. Back to the right foot, one touch, shot with the outside of his boot. Misses resulted in a clap of the hands and a shake of the head. Goals were met with ... next.

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For 20 minutes, sweat falling off him, Giakoumakis took shot, after shot, after shot.

His work ethic, which has resulted in 10 goals in only 927 minutes and his first MLS All-Star game selection, was born from when he was most miserable as a player at a place where he should have been happiest: at AEK Athens in his native Greece.

“I was depressed so badly,” he said. “In Athens, I wasn’t myself. I didn’t want to work. I didn’t want to wake up to go for training. I had a very, very bad experience. And since then, I found my way out.”

Watching him Wednesday at Atlanta United’s training complex, it’s hard to imagine Giakoumakis not being happy.

After his shooting session, he walked to over to a group of season-ticket holders who were invited to watch the team practice and signed autographs for a few minutes. That ended with Giakoumakis giving a young man his slightly drenched training shirt. The boy was so excited that he didn’t see Giakoumakis reaching out to get a fist bump.

Sitting in the air conditioning inside, a dry shirt on, Giakoumakis explains why he felt compelled to continue to work.

After productive stints at Atsalenios and Platanias, Greek powers Olympiacos and Panathinaikos showed interest. AEK Athens got there first, only for Giakoumakis to learn that the club had no plan for him. Their only goal was to keep him from going to one of the other two clubs.

Because it didn’t cost them anything to acquire Giakoumakis, he said they were happy to let him train and then play him a few minutes from time to time. There was no plan to develop him, no plan to sell him eventually to a bigger club.

“I was literally melting there, like I was getting destroyed, mentally every day and physically,” he said.

He relied on his wife, his rock as he described her, and his family to keep him going.

And then ... he was loaned to a club in Crete. He scored twice in 10 appearances. Then he was loaned to a club in Poland where he scored three goals in 12 appearances.

He said the league was very physical, very competitive. His work rate wasn’t close to good enough. He said in Greece, soccer was more about tactics because the game isn’t as open.

Giakoumakis found his love for the game again, along with a heightened work ethic.

“I realized that this is a way you play football and you achieve things. Otherwise, you’re nothing right?” he said. “I found all the difference in the world when I went abroad.”

AEK Athens sold him to VVV-Venlo in Holland for close to what it bought him for, costing Giakoumakis four of what could have been the most productive years of his athletic career.

He started to make up for it at Venlo in the Eredivisie, one of the best leagues in the world for developing strikers. Giakoumakis, then 25 years old, scored 26 goals in 30 appearances. Venlo sold Giakoumakis to Celtic in Scotland, where he scored 19 goals in 40 appearances in one of the physically toughest leagues in the world. Celtic sold him to Atlanta United a few months ago.

Atlanta United knew that Giakoumakis was a hard worker. They soon found out that he also was a leader.

One of Giakoumakis’ first conversations in his early training sessions was with fullback Brooks Lennon. Giakomakis wanted him to know where he likes the ball, even going so far as to tell him and fullback Andrew Gutman not to even worry about looking for him. Just play the pass, he will get there.

“He started to create relationships and bonds with guys on the field that were going to give him the service that he needed,” Lennon said.

That communication is working.

Giakoumakis scored in his first start, and then scored in four consecutive starts. Despite missing games because of injuries and call-ups to the Greek national team that have affected his consistency with Atlanta United, he is in the running to win the MLS Golden Boot as the league’s scoring leader, which is one of his goals. He trails Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar by three despite playing 700 fewer minutes.

His size – he’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds – and his experiences in Poland and Scotland prepared him for what he said was the surprising physical play of MLS, where he said every week he’s going up against two centerbacks who are the size of trees.

Giakoumakis learned that he can’t stop in games if he wants to be successful.

“The number one is his willingness to do things,” manager Gonzalo Pineda said. “You can see in the variety of his goals. It can be the easy tap, he can be the header, he can be runs in behind, it can be the cutbacks. He can be in multiple areas. And he can score in difficult spaces just because he’s willing to do all the effort.”

Giakoumakis also is willing to speak up when things aren’t going well.

After a 3-1 loss at home to Charlotte earlier this season, Giakoumakis spoke to his teammates after the game about the need to work harder and to play as a team. He has a presence within the group, according to Pineda, because he’s willing to hold people accountable while also putting in the work for self-improvement.

Giakoumakis said that drive is pushed by his ego, which was why he was toiling in the heat Wednesday, taking shot after shot.

“So, I’m never satisfied,” he said. “Even now, I was talking to the assistant manager Rob (Valentino). I said to him, ‘I’m not, I’m not really happy yet.’ I’m happy, of course, but I’m not really happy, I’m not actually satisfied. I’m not satisfied yet. I’m not satisfied.

“If I score one goal, I need to score more and more and more and more and more. So we need to create more and more and more. So it’s something that really, my ego pushed me all the time to achieve more and more things.”

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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule

Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1

March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0

March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1

March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1

April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0

April 8 Atlanta United 1, New York City FC 1

April 15 Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 2

April 23 Atlanta United 2, Chicago 1

April 29 Nashville SC 3, Atlanta United 1

May 6 Inter Miami CF 2, Atlanta United 1