Leigh Griffiths looks set to sign a new deal with Celtic over the next few days. The striker, appearing on the BBC Euros Breakfast show on BBC Scotland explained that he is out of contract in a few days but has spoken to the new Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou and according to Griffiths the Australian is keen to keep him at the club rather than allow him to leave at the end of the month.
Griffiths appears committed to staying at Celtic and is not looking elsewhere. He seems to have an issue with the Celtic coaching staff last year with Neil Lennon in particular coming in for criticism for his claims that the striker was pretty much unfit to start throughout the season. He points to a run of games his had in December and January when we started and played more than an hour in them all, excluding the game at Ibrox when he was taken off after Celtic went down to ten men after Bobby Madden’s remarkable decision to send Nir Bitton off.
A poor 45 minutes against St Mirren in the 2-1 defeat at Celtic Park seemed to be the reason, according to Griffiths, why he never featured much for the remaining few months of a season to forget.
Here’s Griffiths talking about all this and also on missing out on the Euros. Scotland’s campaign ended last night with a 3-1 defeat to Croatia, with the only Scottish goal of the Championships coming from Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor – none of Steve Clarke’s selected striker found the back of the net.
A mistake in not selecting Griffiths? Who knows. But what was certain is that the striker made the Scotland manager’ decision to leave him out fairly easy. Here’s the interview…
Should @Leighgriff09 have been picked for Scotland?🏴
Was he fit for selection?💪
Was he treated fairly by Celtic?😬
Will he stay at Celtic?📝Leigh Griffiths answers all 👇
Listen live 📻➡️ https://t.co/NsrNtEIQRj#BBCEurosBreakfast pic.twitter.com/4z1SaQYLrL
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) June 23, 2021
“I’m out of contract at the end of the month, but I spoke to the manager last week and he’s keen to keep me on. We’re looking for a deal that can be done and hopefully it can be done in the next few days,” Griffiths says.
“I’m fit. I said it towards the end of last season, if you’re fit enough to be on the bench then you’re fit enough to play games.
“At times, Celtic were losing or drawing games and needed a goal and I was the one brought on to make that impact.
Photo: Andrew Milligan
“I did it away to Aberdeen and then I was thinking I’ve not had a lot of minutes during the season so in the games towards the end of the season when the league was finished – for example against St Johnstone at home, we were winning 3-0 at the time and I got 17 minutes,” the striker added.
“That’s what was coming out of the club but I’m thinking to myself, if you’re not fit then you’re not going to be part of the squad until you are. That’s my take on it. You’d have to ask the coaches at Celtic or Lenny why he didn’t think I was fit.
“Given the run I had after the Scottish Cup Final in December, I played six or seven on the bounce.
At times, yeah. Like I say, the run I got from the end of December through to January I was fine and starting games and playing well.“The only game I didn’t play more than 60 minutes was the game at Ibrox. We were playing well and got a man sent off and I was the one that came off.
But apart from that I scored goals, I assisted goals, I was playing well but that bad 45 minutes against St Mirren was a turning point.”
