In-demand T&T striker Levi Garcia failed to add to his tally of 18 goals as his AEK Athens battled to a goalless draw with Panathinaikos in their top-of-the-table Stoiximan Greece Super League clash at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium, Athens, Greece on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Garcia, who is rumoured to be on the top of 52-time Scottish Premiership champions Celtic summer shopping list played the full 90 minutes but could not snatch a winner for his team as his run of scoring in two straight matches came to an end.
Despite the drawn result, AEK Athens stayed top of the table with 76 points from 33 matches, level with Panathinaikos but with a superior goal-difference of plus-47 to plus-32 while defending champions Olympiacos who trashed Volos FC 5-0 stayed third with 66 points followed by PAOK with 63, Aris with 47 and Volos FC with 40.
With its title hopes still in its hands, AEK Athens will return to league play on May 3 against Olympiacos in a very crucial clash before travelling to Aris on May 7 followed by a home clash with Volos on May 14 to end the season.
Garcia and his AEK Athens teammates are already through to the Greece Novibet Cup final against PAOK on May 24.
This after AEK Athens beat Olympiacos 4-2 on aggregate in their home-and-away semifinal, losing their second-leg semifinal 1-2 away after winning the first-leg 3-0 with Garcia scoring a double.
The powerful left-sided hitman —who stands 6ft tall— Garcia cost £1.9 million when he moved from Beitar Jerusalem to Greek football back in 2020 and has two years remaining on his current deal.
The winner of the T&T Football Association men’s “Player of the Year” scored five goals in his first season followed by seven last season, and it is because of this rich vein of form he has been attracting attention for months, with more suitors at each match.
So far this season it has been reported that the T&T international has been watched live by scouts from Wolfsburg (Germany), Real Sociedad (Spain), Villarreal (Spain), Bologna (Italy), Benfica (Portugal), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), and Stuttgart of Germany.
In fact, it was Wolfsburg who, in the summer of 2021, made an offer of €6M initially and finally €8m to buy him from AEK Athens, and received a negative response, and despite their offer being turned down Wolves have not forgotten the international ace and could return.
Garcia currently has a contract with AEK until the summer of 2025 in which no clause is provided, but his former club Beitar Jerusalem maintains a resale rate of 40 percent.
It is stated that AEK Athens, commonly known as the “yellow and black” is not even discussing selling Garcia at this stage, and for them to think about it in the summer a much larger offer of €10 million would have to be made.
