FORMER Celtic star Georgios Samaras has joined Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal on a three year contract reported to be worth an incredible £9million to the Greek World Cup star.
Having joined Celtic on loan from Manchester City in 2008, Samaras went on to sign for the club and become a fans favourite making a particularly strong impact for Celtic in the Champions League. Both Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon regarded Samaras as crucial in the success they achieved while managing Celtic.
At the end of last season he left Celtic very reluctantly having failed to agree on terms of a new contract. Samaras insisted that he was not being greedy in his dealings with the club.
Samaras went on to star for Greece in a successful World Cup campaign in the summer before signing for West Brom. However he failed to make an impact for the second time in English football and is now about to become one of the richest players in the game with his move to Saudi Arabia.
While at Celtic, Samaras frequently spoke of money not being the vital factor in his decision to spend the best years of his career in Glasgow’s East End. This windfall contract at the end of his playing career is therefore richly deserved.
Sammi will always be welcome back at Celtic Park as a fans’ favourite.
