Giannoulis experiencing great form early on for PAOK
PAOK’s Dimitris Giannoulis is experiencing a great start to the season after replacing injured captain Adelinho Vieirinha at left-back. AGONAsports analyses his season to date.
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23-year old left-back Dimitris Giannoulis has begun the season in impressive form, following his return to PAOK, and the injury to inspirational captain Vieirinha. Giannoulis returned to PAOK from loan for the second half of last season and has been a regular starter in Abel Ferreira’s starting XI this campaign.
Giannoulis has always had the talent and potential to make it at this level. Five years ago, he was playing for Vataniakos’ under 19s team and was a standout player, playing as an 18-year-old. He made his mark for the senior team playing as a left-winger, where he caught the attention of Greek footballing legend Theodoros Zagorakis.
At the time, the Greek Euro 2004 captain was working for PAOK, as Ivan Savvidis’ advisor. Zagorakis made the transfer happen and signed Giannoulis in 2014. Giannoulis spent time out on loan with Pierikos and Veria, where he earned the Novasports 2015–16 Super League Rookie of the Year award.
It has been a long journey for Giannoulis before returning back to PAOK, with four different loan spells. His two most recent outings on loan were at Cypriot outfit Anorthosis and then Greek Super League club Atromitos. Zagorakis had faith in him and remained confident that Giannoulis had the ability to succeed and shouldn’t be lost in the system.
He returned to Thessaloniki midway through last season from Atromitos (loan deal cut short), to add depth to PAOK’s squad as they charged on to win the Greek league/Cup double.
Giannoulis’ impressive form continued into the 2019/20 campaign, having scored one goal and provided three assists across all competitions from a total of seven appearances to date.
His form was rewarded on the international level as new Greece manager, John van 't Schip, called Giannoulis up for the most recent UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers against Finland and Liechtenstein. Giannoulis made on appearance in one of the two games, coming on as a substitute in the 86th minute in Greece’s disappointing 1:1 draw to Liechtenstein in Athens.
