THE future of Georgios Samaras is set to be thrashed out at a crunch meeting within the next fortnight.

The Greek striker's loan from Manchester City will run out when the final ball of the SPL title-holder's campaign is kicked at Tannadice on May 22.

Samaras, 23, will then head off to join up with his national squad for their Euro 2008 warm-up game against Hungary in Budapest.

But the man whose goal at Motherwell last weekend gave Celtic another vital three points will sit down with Celtic before he joins up with his countrymen to see if a deal can be thrashed out to make his move to Parkhead permanent.

When they sent him north in January, Manchester City agreed Celtic could have first option on the player.

The price tag is around £2.5million, less than half what the Premiership side paid Dutch club Herenveen for Samaras two years ago.

Gordon Strachan has been impressed by the contribution made by the tall striker, who has chipped in with six goals even though he has found securing a regular starting place difficult.

Samaras has indicated he would want an assurance he would not be signed as a back-up to Scott McDonald and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink as he believes he needs to be a first-choice player at this stage of his career.

He said: "We must sit down around the table and discuss my future. I believe that will happen at the end of the season.

"I've enjoyed playing here, but it is not up to me. It is up to Celtic and Manchester City what they want."

Should the Parkhead club fail to reach agreement, there will be no shortage of clubs willing to bid for the hitman, who has made it clear he has no intention of returning to Manchester, even though the future of City boss Sven Goran- Eriksson is in doubt.

Celtic are aware that if Samaras can force his way into the Greek side for this summer's championship finals and play well in Austria and Switzerland, his value would soar. So they will try to strike a deal early.

Samaras has already shown his commitment to helping Strachan's side by informing Greek coach Otto Rehaggel he will not be available for the friendly against Cyprus on May 19 because he wants to play against Dundee United three days later. He will meet up with them after the game at Tannadice.

Vennegoor has also been given special dispensation from Dutch boss Marco van Basten to stay for the delayed final SPL game which means he is likely to sit out the Euro 2008 warm-up against Ukraine on May 24.