"We can go far in the league" - Apostolos Giannou feels right at home at Kerala Blasters
Apostolos Giannou has embarked on a new journey in India with Kerala Blasters this year. The Greek-Australian striker recently sat down for an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, reflecting on his journey so far and looking ahead to what the future holds for him.
Apostolos Giannou moved from Greece, his country of birth, to Australia as a nine-year-old boy who did not know how to complete a sentence in English. Since arriving in the land Down Under with only the football skills that he had picked up in the streets of Naousa, 'Apo' has gone on to make a name for himself in the sport.
Giannou, 32, has plied his trade in the top leagues of Greece, Australia, China and Cyprus. The forward, who featured in a friendly match for Greece in 2015, also notably has 12 national team appearances for Australia under his belt.
The Greek-Australian has now added another feather to his cap by embarking on a new journey in India with Kerala Blasters. However, his journey so far has been filled with thorns and stones that leave one uttering two phrases - 'If only...', 'What could have been...?'
Around 15 years back, a 16-year-old Giannou thought he had earned a golden ticket to one of Europe's best leagues and talent factories - the Eredivisie. After two rounds of trials, it appeared he was on his way to PSV Eindhoven only for FIFA regulations to rain on his parade.
Giannou, though, explains that there is no point in crying over spilled milk as he opens up about his career to Sportskeeda:
"Regrets, I can't have it because it was not my decision. The Australian federation wouldn't let me [go], there's a FIFA rule that if you are Under-18, your parents need to come over and so they didn't allow me to go."
"So, I had to [give up on the move], I was angry at the time and maybe disappointed, but I don't really hold any grudges or anything like that."
Giannou admits that the facilities on offer in the Netherlands were indeed enticing, but stressed that he has made peace with how things have turned out for him. The Kerala Blasters frontman adds:
"With football, you never know. I could have gone there and maybe would have done more things, or maybe I would have done less. But it was a good experience."
"The facilities and the training and everything was, I think the Dutch have the best youth programs in the world. I would have liked to be there, but it didn't work out and I had to find a different path which was a little bit harder, but it's okay."
A decade and a half later, Destiny continues to test the 32-year-old's resolve. Just over a week on from now, Australia will announce their preliminary squad for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar.
Had things worked out differently, Kerala Blasters' Giannou would have been in the running for a spot in Graham Arnold's team.
The striker earned himself a place in the Socceroos' squad for their World Cup and AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers last year. However, a rib injury forced him to depart from the camp before the team's fixtures in Kuwait and he has not returned since.
Giannou looks back at the injury that seemingly sucker-punched his hopes of flying to Qatar. He says:
"Sometimes in football, you've to be lucky as well. It was just an unlucky moment."
Apostolos Giannou putting in the hard yards at training. #GoSocceroos https://t.co/QI2OOUu9Pe
The centre-forward also dissects the reasons that led to his injury and exit from the national team camp. He explains:
"Just in general, after COVID [outbreak], the league stopped where I was playing and then there was the other team that I went to, I didn't have a great experience."
"Last year for me, was only to try and get some game time because if you don't play enough, you can even see in the [case of Manchester United's Cristiano] Ronaldo, he's not getting enough time, you cannot find your rhythm and play to your potential."
Giannou, who rates his chances of earning a World Cup spot as 'very slim to none' returns to his earlier point about not ruing missed chances. With a tone of voice that radiates optimism, the Kerala Blasters striker says:
"When you sit out for a long time, small injuries come, which is unlucky because, now, I missed my chance to be in the national team. But again, life goes on."
"So I'm still trying to find myself again and actually, I feel very good now. I think physically I'm back to where I should be. And you never know what football holds, we'll see in the future what happens."
Giannou opens up on transfer to Kerala Blasters
Football has now brought him to the coasts of Kochi, where Kerala Blasters fans - who are known for accepting new players with open hands - have nicknamed him Appuettan.
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A Greek God in God's Own Country! 🙌🏻
Welcome Apostolos Giannou! 💛
#SwagathamGiannou #YennumYellow #KBFC #കേരളബ്ലാസ്റ്റേഴ്സ് https://t.co/RMHYVLZoJ4
Lifting the lid on his transfer to Kerala Blasters, Giannou makes it clear that the move did not come out of the blue. He discloses that he has been thinking about trying his hand in India for a while and that a transfer to the Yellow Army was in the pipeline for over two years. He reveals:
"I've been having, for the last two years, talks with Kerala Blasters, with Karolis [Skinkys, the sporting director]. But every time he spoke to me, I was contracted to another team and it wasn't the right time."
"I felt now this [was the right] time, at the age of 32, I think also the league is becoming more popular and better in quality. So I think it was the right time, a good moment to experience this and to come here [and join Kerala Blasters]."
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou, who coached Giannou at the under-17 stage, personally convinced the player to switch allegiance from Greece to Australia in 2016. When it came to persuading him to join Kerala Blasters, it was sporting director Karolis Skinkys who was at the center of negotiations.
The striker explains how the Lithuanian assured him that a transfer to Kerala Blasters was the right move for him:
"It was, of course talking with him [Skinkys] and making it more clear how the Kerala Blasters team operates and what he wants to achieve. It made me feel that it sounds like a good opportunity and that it will be good for my career, for my style of play."
Apart from Kerala Blasters sporting director Skinkys, Giannou also had friends, including former Delhi Dynamos (now Odisha FC) attacker Adil Nabi, who vouched for a move to India. He says:
"Also talking to a few players who have played in the Indian Super League before. Because some teammates told me positive things, I didn't have any doubt in the end. I had an idea of what to expect as well, which was good."
Giannou made his competitive debut for Kerala Blasters last week, starting in the team's 3-1 win against East Bengal in the ISL 2022-23 opener in Kochi. He was on the pitch for 80 minutes before being replaced by the eventual star of the match Ivan Kalyuzhnyi.
Asked to provide his initial thoughts on his Kerala Blasters debut, the 32-year-old reiterates what every foreign player that has graced the turf at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi has said. "The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing," he affirms.
Giannou goes on to dissect the team's performance and claims that there is a lot more to come from Ivan Vukomanovic's Kerala Blasters:
"In the first game, there were a lot of positives to take away. Obviously, we haven't reached the full potential but, it was the first game of the league and I feel pretty confident in our team."
"We have a good squad and we can achieve a lot of things this year, not individually, but as a whole."
Any striker would want to contribute to his team's victory by finding the back of the net, but not Giannou. Apo is prepared to - in his own words - 'sacrifice' his desire to score goals to help the team and has no qualms about not being among the scorers against East Bengal.
Giannou also suggests that one would be naive to think that an Ivan Vukomanovic striker is merely someone who scores goals for the team. Fans with an eye for detail will know that the Serbian tactician demands as much from his number 9s off the ball as he does from them on it, if not more.
The Greek-Australian corroborates the same:
"The job that we have to do here in this team as a striker, it's not... maybe people that don't know how to read the game and watch football cannot understand what we're doing is actually very important."
"Some people see only 'Okay, he's scored so he played well' or 'He didn't score, so he didn't play well'. But within the team, we know our roles, we know what the coach wants, we know what we need, what we expect from each other."
For those who do not know what Vukomanovic wants from his strikers, Giannou makes it simple by saying:
"Karolis and the coach signed me and Dimi [Dimitrios Diamantakos] because they know our style of play and it's the style of play that the coach wants to use because we have strikers that press a lot, that make the life of the defenders difficult by not giving them time just to play."
The former PAOK Salonika frontman is convinced that his skillset is tailor-made for Vukomanovic's style of play. The same applies to Kerala Blasters' Greek striker Dimitrios Diamantakos, who Giannou shares his roots with.
Giannou feels their Greek connection will stand them in good stead as they try to build chemistry as strike partners. However, he is keen to make sure that his chemistry is not restricted to Diamantakos.
He points out that the team game holds more weight than individual quality at Vukomanovic's Kerala Blasters. He says:
"When I saw 'we', it's not just me and Dimi. I say 'we' as a whole because I see the team as one. I don't see one individual player being able to make a difference by himself. Everything is within the team game."
"There are some teams that have very good individual players, but cannot perform to the best. Maybe they win one game, they lose the next."
He adds:
"Within the team, you recognise each other's effort. Whether that's me defending and helping the defense and someone else scoring or the opposite. I think we all talk about it as a whole, as a 'we'."
It is safe to say Kerala Blasters feel more like a family than a group of individuals now. Like many others from among the players and the fans, Giannou credits Vukomanovic and his staff for creating a 'family bubble' in the team.
Having moved out of his comfort zone on several occasions before, Giannou was not worried about joining Kerala Blasters in India. However, he elucidates that Vukomanovic and Co. make it easier for anyone coming into the team to feel right at home:
"It [the team] was very easy to come in. From the first few training sessions, I felt like I'd been here for longer than I have. I think that's part of the coach's job and the staff, and the assistant coaches, and the physical coaches."
The forward goes on to make it clear that the unity is not limited to the coach and his players, rather it extends from the owners to every single staff member in the camp. He points out:
"Everyone's so relaxed and so easy to get along with. In this atmosphere, they've created, whoever comes in feels comfortable straightaway."
"I think it's the whole atmosphere of the club I would say. Probably from the owner to the players and the staff, everyone is pretty much on the same level."
Despite all his recent struggles, Giannou appears to have found a rightful home in the shape of Kerala Blasters. His contract with the club expires at the end of the season, but he can already see himself continuing as Manjappada's very own Appuettan beyond that. Asked about his future, he replies:
"I could see myself staying for longer than one year, of course. It's very comfortable, very family oriented. The coaching, the way the team play, everything is positive."
However, right now, Apo is only taking one game at a time and hopes to make history with Kerala Blasters by winning the elusive ISL title. He concludes:
"Right now, the only thing that we think about is the next game, which is [against ATK Mohun Bagan] this Sunday and I think if we keep this type of mentality, I don't want to speak too much, but I think we can go far in the league."
Vukomanovic has created such an atmosphere in the Kerala Blasters camp that even the ISL title would want a taste of the camaraderie they share. And one cannot be blamed for thinking that it will not be long before the Yellow Army are crowned champions, with the likes of Giannou at the fore of the project.