Masouras makes perfect start to life in Piraeus
There were doubts Giorgos Masouras would regularly be included in the squad for Olympiacos, but since moving across to Piraeus from Nea Smyrni, he has continued his impressive development.
Masouras is enjoying the season of his life. If we take into account his statistics with Panionios in the first half of the campaign, the 25-year-old has scored a large nine goals and dished out one assist in 20 Super League matches, and he managed to break into the Greek national team towards the end of the UEFA Nations League. In Piraeus, Masouras has been given a perfect platform on which to showcase his talent, earning the trust of head coach Pedro Martins within a short space of time.
Back in November, Olympiacos reached a deal with Panionios to sign Masouras in the winter transfer window for around 400 thousand euros, but in truth the Erythrolefki had long been tracking his development. Francois Modesto and Christian Karembeu regularly made the short trip to Nea Smyrni to see Masouras in action for Panionios, and more often than not, they were encouraged by what they saw. Able to compete anywhere across the forward line, Masouras is a tricky player for the opponents to handle, beating them for strength and having a handy knack of finding himself in the right place at the right time. On March 10, he expertly escaped the attentions of the Aris defence at the Karaiskakis Stadium, storming in to score his third Super League goal since signing for the Thrylos. Masouras’ three league markers for Olympiacos have come from only 11 attempts at goal!
The way in which Masouras immediately forced his way into the Olympiacos line-up says a lot about his work ethic. At the Renti Training Centre, Martins informed Masouras that he would have to train extremely hard to give himself a chance of being picked, and the latter did just that. After the 4:1 triumph against Aris, Martins shared his thoughts on the Greek international: “Masouras needed to improve tactically, but since he joined us, he has developed a lot and he deserves to play for Olympiacos.” Incidentally, in the game with Aris, Masouras splayed a wonderful pass out to Daniel Podence for the second goal, but it wasn’t registered as an assist.
The energy which Masouras competes with on the pitch is infectious. Masouras has been selected for the Greek national team’s first two UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers in March, and his enthusiasm, desire and attacking threat are all things which the Ethniki Omada is crying out for. Time will tell if he can transfer his superb play to the international scene.
