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Hartson – Griffiths must rise to challenge of Klimala signing or face Celtic exit

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Image for Hartson – Griffiths must rise to challenge of Klimala signing or face Celtic exit

BBC pundit and former Celtic striker John Harrison feels that Leigh Griffiths should be inspired by the signing of Patryk Klimala for £3.5m rather than going in the huff.

Hartson was speaking on BBC Sportsound (reported on the BBC website) after Griffiths’ reaction to the signing of the Polish under-21 international.

“If you’re Leigh Griffiths, you see it as a challenge. You want to stay and prove you can still do it at this level. He’s been pivotal to Celtic’s success in recent years”.

“Leigh is a goalscorer, it will be interesting to see whether there are whispers that he’s really not happy, wants to move, wants more game time, or can Neil persuade him and say there are still opportunities and he still has a major part to play?”.

“When you’ve got too many players fighting for a certain position, you are going to get one or two unhappy. That’s when the manager is very important by still keeping them hungry and when they do get that chance, they make sure they are ready”.

So is Hartson correct?

It may not be down to Griffiths, is the simple answer, with Odsonne Edouard as undisputed first choice centre-forward, also, Celtic haven’t just spent £3.5m for a player to be sat in the stands every week.

The former Hibernian striker and Scotland international has had a series of on and off the field problems in recent seasons and has scored just 22 times in the last three seasons since the arrival of Edouard in 2017.

Lennon has previously said, this season, that Griffiths was too good a player to go out on loan but that may be about to change given the club’s recent transfer activity. He is desperately short of match fitness, form and game time and he may also see it as his best chance of leading the line for his country when the Nations League play-off against Israel comes around in March.

Should Leigh Griffiths leave Celtic on loan this transfer window?

Yes

Yes

No

No

At just 29-years-old, Griffiths still has plenty to offer and if he can get himself fit and firing on all cylinders he could yet have a say in the destination of the Scottish Premiership title.

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