Neil Lennon has admitted that Leigh Griffiths is getting closer to returning to first team action.
The striker has made one 30 minute appearance in a friendly against Hibs, suffering a variety of issues since Lockdown was imposed in March.
Griffiths missed Celtic’s training camp in Loughborough then looked on as Lennon delivered a scathing criticism of his professionalism after Celtic’s pre-season match against Lyon.
The appearance against Hibs at the end of July suggested that the former Hibs striker was on his way back into favour but a calf injury set back his return.
Odsonne Edouard, Albian Ajeti and Patryk Klimala all scored away to Ross County on Saturday but none of those strikers netted at St Mirren to underline the need for a fourth striker.
On their coverage of last night’s match BBC Scotland reports:
“He’s fit but he’s not in the squad because he’s not trained or played enough football,” said Celtic manager Neil Lennon on forward Leigh Griffiths before tonight’s game. “In terms of the calf strain it looks like he’s over the worst of that now.”
Griffiths scored eight goals following Celtic’s break in Dubai as the hoops stretched their lead at the top of the table to 13 points to clinch the title.
With no form of reserve or development matches it will be difficult for Lennon to give Griffiths the sort of match experience needed to get him towards full match fitness.