Vasilios Koutsianikoulis

Vasilios Koutsianikoulis (Greek: Βασίλειος Κουτσιανικούλης; born 9 August 1988) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a left winger or an attacking midfielder for club Anagennisi Karditsa.

Club Career

Early years

Koutsianikoulis began his football career at his local amateur club Iraklis Chalkis, at the time playing in the Delta Ethniki, the fourth tier of the Greek football league system. His performances drew the attention of Greece U-19 coach Nikos Nioplias, who arranged for his first international call-up as well as sending him on a trial period at his former club OFI in April 2007. Koutsianikoulis played a single pre-season friendly game with OFI against local rival Ergotelis. As OFI coach at the time Reiner Maurer had second thoughts on signing Koutsianikoulis on his outfit, Ergotelis, who were impressed with his performance during that friendly approached the player and signed him instead.

Ergotelis

Koutsianikoulis debuted for Ergotelis during the 2007–08 Superleague season, where he played in a total of 12 matches, 10 of which he came in as a substitute. In total, Koutsianikoulis played 126 minutes, and did not score any goals.

His breakout season came the next year, when he became a regular starter. Due to his short stature and agility, Koutsianikoulis demonstrated an impressive ability to evade opposing tackles and beat the defensive line on attacking runs, while his finishing and precise passing to create scoring opportunities for his teammates led the Greek media to dub him "the Greek Messi" or "Messi for the poor", often drawing comparisons between his and the Argentinian super-star's playing style, though Koutsianikoulis himself requested these nicknames and comparisons to be dropped. He impressed with his performance in an uncommon 3−0 club home win against Aris in September 2008, where he assisted his club's second goal and posed a continuous threat to the opposing defense. He followed up this performance with 2

This page also has a version in other languages :  Василиос Кутсианикулис (russian)