Neil Lennon isn’t sure if Leigh Griffiths will play again this season.
Ahead of Celtic’s Europa League tie with RB Salzburg in December Brendan Rodgers revealed that the striker wouldn’t be available due to personal issues. Griffiths hasn’t been seen at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training ground this year.
Odsonne Edouard was left to carry the striking burden through December before Oliver Burke arrived on loan in January and was converted into a striker.
The return of Griffiths would give Celtic a massive boost in striking options but it seems that pre-season training is more likely for the return of the former Hibs striker.
“The sooner we get Leigh back the better,” Lennon told The Sun. “We’re keeping tabs on that and we want to get him back on the training ground as soon as possible but at the moment he isn’t close to that.
“I don’t know if him being back this season is feasible. We’ll have to gauge that.”
Lennon signed Griffiths from Wolves in January 2014 but stepped down as Celtic manager that summer.
Under Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers the striker has gone on to score 100 goals for Celtic but the last two years have been dogged by calf and hamstring problems.
In January Celtic spent £2m signing Vakoun Issouf Bayo but so far the Ivorian has only played five minutes of first team football.
I’d rather be in the shoes of @JohnHartson10 for this showdownhttps://t.co/AuPjXsntjF
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) March 5, 2019