Former Celtic winger Davie Provan has issued a stinging assessment of Leigh Griffiths’ move to Dundee. James McPake’s Dark Blues sealed a deadline day loan deal for the 31-year-old with Griffiths insisting it’s an opportunity to get himself fit and firing again.
However, Provan said in his Sunsport column that Griffiths’ Celtic days are over and he should avoid calling out Neil Lennon’s relevance as he swaps Glasgow for Dundee.
“Leigh Griffiths reckons Neil Lennon keeps bad-mouthing him to remain relevant. Griff should worry more about his own relevance. The striker’s move to Dundee looks like the last act in the Griffiths soap opera.
“If the striker wouldn’t get himself fit for Celtic, what chance of him going the extra yard at Dens Park? He should ask himself why Ange Postecoglou has bombed him when Celtic are still a striker short.
“Delusional talk of an eventual Hoops return can be disregarded. Sadly, at just 31, the best finisher in the country is already in the elephants’ graveyard.”
Griffiths has scored 123 goals for Celtic since joining in January 2013. Unfortunately, it’s been a case of the two-Leigh’s. In Ronny Deila’s final season, Griffiths scored 40 goals. He was electric and really helped Celtic towards that title. However, as Brendan Rodgers and Moussa Dembele arrived, Griffiths’ role began to falter and Edouard’s arrival the season after proved to be fatal to Griffiths’ chances of being a No.1 striker at the club. Rodgers clearly didn’t fancy him alone up top but used him to rotate the pack – something Griffiths wasn’t contented with.
An extended absence from the game due to personal, off-field issues and then injuries when he returned further relegated Griffiths in the manager’s estimations. A stint between January and March 2020 had may hoping that Celtic’s No.9 had returned to his best. Albeit Covid-19 struck and the country plunged into lockdown. Griffiths was contented making Tiktoks and getting takeaways meaning that he was off the pace on his return to Lennoxtown. At that age, he was playing catch up and what transpired last season requires no comment.
Ange Postecoglou offered Griffiths a lifeline to prove himself but he spurned that within days of signing a new deal. The boos from a section of supporters in the pre-season friendly versus West Ham all but confirmed that it would take an incredible showing of commitment to return to the fold. Days later, he missed the game against FC Midtjylland. Now, he’s away but you wouldn’t imagine he will return as he runs down his final year on loan.
Im not a fan of David provan as he’s seldom got something positive to say about Celtic but i think he is bang on here about Griffiths