Hull City are believed to be preparing a £1m bid for Georgios Samaras.
The Greek internationalist is out of contract in the summer when he is free to negotiate his own deal after spending six years as a Celtic paper.
According to the Hull Daily Mail Steve Bruce is ready to put in a £1m bid for the 28-year-old which is bound to bring the contract issue to a head.
Neil Lennon is keen to keep Samaras but realistic to know that with no signs of a breakthrough in contract talks he faces the prospect of losing the Greek for nothing.
Alongwith captain Scott Brown, Samaras is the only player in the current first team squad that wasn’t signed by Lennon.
Gordon Strachan initially signed Samaras on loan in January 2008 and completed a deal with Manchester City that summer to make the deal permanent.
In 2011 Lennon told the Celtic AGM that Samaras was the type of player that could get a manager sacked but by the end of that season Lennon had survived to win his first championship with the hoops well placed to make it three in a row.
Lennon seems resigned to losing Samaras and Joe Ledley if suitable bids come in and is hopeful of bringing in replacements as soon as the transfer window opens.
After beating Inverness Caley Thistle on Sunday he admitted: “We have made in-roads into trying to sign one player. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but we are looking to freshen the squad up, it’s a little bit thin with six or seven players out at the moment.
“We’re hoping for an injection with a few coming through in the second half of the season with Champions League qualifiers starting in July.
“January is a difficult month to do business, teams want to hold onto their more valuable assets which is understandable, we’re in exactly the same position. We don’t want any of our players to leave.
“What we want to do is try to find value for money and add a little bit of quality to the squad.”
I for one hope both Georgios and Joseph stay.
Samaras is a lazy imposter and Ledley wasn’t born with a forward gear.
Not overly fussed if either of these players stay or go, to be honest! Both of them quite easily replaceable in my opinion!!
If they don’t wana sign then good bye lads,hope joe stays but can’t see it some how,sammi has to many bad games against lesser teams which is unexplainable and very annoying,sammi just slows everything down for me and takes to long on the ball then shoots when he should have past and also passes when he should have shot.Lennon thinks different of him tho and will want him to stay.
I’d snap the hand of ANY club that is offering £ 1m………..what would we lose, his 8-10 goals a season – pitiful for a striker. His many lazy displays or his even more frequent blind alley runs or slowing the game down to walking pace (or below).
I always rate a player by thinking how much trouble he would cause us if playing for opposition, Given that Samaras barely causes ANY opponent a problem he would be instantly forgettable.
If Lennon genuinely thinks Samaras is the answer then someone tell Houston we have a MAJOR problem.
£1m for Samaras? Take it please!
Would like to see Joe stay but let’s be honest, he doesn’t set the stadium alight does he?
If he set the stadium alight, he would be banned and arrested or moved to another section . . . .
Thanks for everything George but it’s time to go, his 10 touches when 2 will do displays are doin my nut in.I wish him well thanks for those 2 goals at inbrox
Hope the bid is real this time. His time has come to go
Its the best possible start to the year if we get £1million for Samaras, he brings very little to the game now and upsets the whole shape and tactics of the team, and Lennon insists on picking him hoping he’s going to change games, so when he’s gone then Lennon MIGHT start playing a better midfield system and give Pukkie and Baldle a good run in the team and then if they still dont cut it then move them on…hail hail, KTF+
The boss wants players who are going to be here next season.so why does he keeps playing those two,who well all know they want to leave.give the young ones a chance want bhoys who will give 100% HH
Samaras has one good game in every fifteen, and that’s being kind to him.
He has no awareness of his team-mates and runs up blind alleys.
Glad to see the back of him.
Most of these comments are utter tosh.
Samaras is by far the classiest player we have had for years. He brings excitement to the match. He despite what the detractors say is a valuable member of the team. He has had two assists in the last two games and only weeks ago scored a hat trick at Rugby Park.
He is consistenly singled out by opposition managers as the player they like least to play against.He is the one player we have who does not look out of place on the big European nights.
He’s going to the world cup as one of his country’s star players. Celtic Park on matchdays will be a duller place without him.
Sorry Patrick,
His time has come and gone.
Tosh sums up Sammi this season.
3 goals at Killie then…… Yip 4 league goals
in total.
Teams know how to play against him in
CL now.
Thanks for the memories Sammi,
Goodbye.
With any player who has worn the hoops ( with the exception of Johnson and Miller) I wish them all the best for their futures.
In Sammy’s case I’ll be glad to see the back of him (ironically something most defenders haven’t seen). Up until last season I used to shrug off Sammy’s antics as that’s just Sammy now I am absolutely sick of complaining about him.
To me he has been a passenger for some time.
Let’s get the £1m and move on to find a player who will give effort in every game.
hail hail
This “lack of effort” is an internet myth.
Who is our most effective defender at corner kicks? Who scored in the last minute at the Nou Camp? Who secured the points in the dying minutes v Hearts?
Just because he does not imitate a headless chicken like Forrest and others in the team does not reveal a lack of effort. He sticks to his position maintaining the shape of the team as instrucred by the manager. Whether you like that or not is a different question.
Patrick,
Go and have a lie down before the bells.
Sammy’s time is up.
He was good inCL last season but he is
a striker and should score goals.
You must be easily pleased, if Sammy is
your hero.
Samaras is no Ronaldo or Robben, but he is our best player!I do agree you can tell if he is fully in the mood in the first ten minutes, when he is however, there is nobody else in our squad comes close.
Commons domestically is our top man just now and the diamond midfield without Samaras has looked pleasing on the eye.I still think though we do not have the players to pass through the better teams, and as alluded to above, Samaras is the one the top managers are wary of.I for one will miss him!