No loan deal for Griffiths, says Lennon

NEIL LENNON has ruled out a January loan exit for Leigh Griffiths to give the striker more game time. Griffiths hasn’t featured for Celtic since August 25 and will miss tomorrow’s Premiership match against former club Livingston as he tries to train his way back to fitness following a virus and a thigh strain. Those issues interrupted the 29-year-old’s bid to recapture form after taking an extended break from football last season to deal with mental health problems. Lennon, though, is clear about his desire to see Griffiths resume first-team duties at Parkhead and believes he is too valuable to consider lending to another club. ‘Leigh won’t go on loan in January,’ said Lennon, who has Odsonne Edouard and

Vakoun Issouf Bayo available up front. ‘That’s not a consideration. Leigh is too good a player. I want him here. He just needs a bit more time to get up to speed. ‘He did fine when he came back and then dipped. He had the injury and he’s not fit enough to play right now. ‘Leigh has had that sabbatical. He is finding it hard to maintain the fitness standards, but that will come.’ Meanwhile, Lennon insists he has no fears about Livingston’s physical approach ahead of the lunchtime kick-off at the Tony Macaroni Arena tomorrow. Rangers counterpart Steven Gerrard was angered when midfielder Joe Aribo was left needing 20 stitches in a head wound following an aerial challenge by Ricki Lamie in the Betfred Cup tie last week. Lennon, however, is more worried by Livingston’s ability to stifle games as Celtic seek to maintain top spot in the wake of Thursday night’s impressive Europa League win over CFR Cluj. ‘I’ve never had an issue with them,’ he said. ‘I know maybe Steven did with the Aribo incident but a lot of teams in Scotland are physical and I don’t think Livingston fall into the category of being over-physical. ‘It will be a tough game. I’m concerned about it because it’s a tough place to go and comes off the back of the Cluj game, as well.’ Livingston are a difficult-to-beat team. They defend well and are dangerous at set-plays. ‘It’s difficult to play free-flowing football on that surface. ‘Hopefully, it will rain and that will take some dryness out of the pitch.’