Celtic star claims he is ready to start after injury worries

The Celtic star has come and claimed that he is ready to start if picked following his struggles with injuries earlier in the season.

There are a lot of dark stories around and Celtic boss Neil Lennon hit out at some of those in his media conference today angrily as he reflected on newspapers running polls about him being sacked. So let’s take a bit of bright news when it comes and share it around. Leigh Griffiths was also talking to the media today as reported on the club official site.

It’s not been the best of seasons so far for Griffiths. He’s been in the news for all the wrong reasons again and out of the team for a while. Many thought he had blown his last chance at Celtic when Lennon expressed his disappointment with the striker’s fitness. The boss went public on the point and the player was left at home in Scotland when the rest of the squad jetted off to glamour pre-season ties in France.

Griffiths though has fought his way back, not just into contention but onto the pitch and is finding the back of the net again. Goal number 117 went in superbly against Aberdeen on Sunday and as the Celtic site confirms, one more goal takes Griffiths into the top 20 goal scorers for the Hoops. That’s a very illustrious record and company for him. And he’s pretty pleased to be up there and playing again as the club tweet reports.

More from The Celtic Bhoys

• Celtic handed fresh injury doubt before Feyenoord game
• Celtic’s £40.7 million announcement should scare Rangers
• Brendan Rodgers makes superb claim about returning Celtic player
• BBC pundit makes sensational claim about Celtic hero Kyogo
• Kyogo Furuhashi sends clear message to Celtic doubters

Griffiths is more than ready to play his part for the team. We saw that with his late goal coming on against St Johnstone and again at Aberdeen. He knows it’s a difficult time at the club currently but has a definite keep the faith perspective and message for fans. Griffiths certainly hasn’t given anything up and sees some positives:

"“Everybody just needs to stick together. Performance-wise, I don’t think we’ve been too bad. Against Rangers, I think they deserved to win the game, they were better than us. On Sunday, I thought we were the better side, and we were unlucky not to come away with three points.“For me, the only opinions that matter to me are the coaching staff here at the club, and whether they feel I’m ready to start games or come off the bench to make a contribution. I’m raring to go, I’m training every day. If I get a start, then great, if not, I’ll do everything I can to help the team get the three points – in Europe or at home.“You’re going to get pressure at a big club and just because we’ve had a couple of bad results, that doesn’t mean the whole world is coming to an end. We’ve had a couple of bad results, but it’s the same cause and we go again on Thursday.”"

For a man who was so far out of the first-team picture in the summer that many people thought he wouldn’t make it back through the dressing room door or would be gone in the transfer window, that’s quite some recovery. In fact after those last two goals Griffiths has maybe even jumped back ahead of his competition for a starting place. Goals do indeed make all the difference.

Welcome back Leigh!