Lennon hails Griffiths for fast fitness turnaround
NEIL LENNON last night hailed Leigh Griffiths for transforming his fitness in the wake of sharp criticism. The Celtic manager is still hoping to further bolster his striking options this week, with a move for West Ham’s Albian Ajeti among the possibilities. Griffiths, though, has worked his way back into the fold after being left out of the pre-season trip to France because he was ‘overweight’ and subsequently given a stark warning from Lennon about his future. The 29-year-old will feature in today’s friendly with Hibernian as players who weren’t part of yesterday’s 2-0 win over Ross County are given a workout
ahead of this weekend’s Premiership kick-off. And Lennon believes Griffiths can play a valuable part in the ten-in-a-row bid — if he sticks to his improved regime. ‘Griff will be involved against Hibs,’ confirmed Lennon. ‘I was absolutely delighted to see the condition he has got himself in when we came back this week.
‘He had a lot of criticism but he deserves praise for the way he has come back. There is a massive difference — huge. ‘It’s all down to him and he has to maintain that, but it’s been a great response from him. ‘Leigh can give us so much — goals, link-up play and game intelligence.
‘We have to monitor him and see how he is because he hasn’t played for a long time. But he’s been training away while we were on the trips.’ Lennon declined to be drawn on any striker names being linked, but Ajeti is understood to still be on the radar. ‘There is a lot of speculation but nothing confirmed as yet,’ said the Parkhead boss.
‘I am happy with the squad but we can improve it and that’s what we are looking to do. ‘I won’t make any predictions because it’s a difficult environment as we aren’t sure how the pandemic will impact on the market. ‘But we do want to bring players in and I don’t think we are a million miles away.’ Goalkeeper is another priority as Lennon hunts a replacement for Fraser Forster.
Sportsmail first revealed Celtic’s interest in Vasilis Barkas, with an offer of £3.2million — plus add-ons — turned down last week. Asked if a deal was close, Lennon said: ‘I don’t know. I’ll be speaking to (head of football operations) Nick (Hammond) on that. We will probably have more on a few things over the next few days.’ Lennon is also optimistic that
Greg Taylor will be fit to face Hamilton in Sunday’s Premiership opener. The left-back had to be replaced before half-time in the Parkhead win over County, following a strong challenge from Connor Randall. ‘He thinks he should be okay,’ said Lennon. ‘It’s a knock and we are hoping he will be fit to resume training on Wednesday or Thursday.’ An own goal from Coll Donaldson was added to by Mohamed Elyounoussi as a strong Celtic line-up recorded a comfortable win. ‘I got everything we wanted out of it,’ added Lennon.