Dee and Celtic locked in talks over Griffiths deal

HIGH HOPES: Striker Leigh Griffiths was an exciting prospect when he arrived on loan at Dens but he has failed to sparkle for the Dark Blues.

Dundee and Celtic remain locked in talks over the future of striker Leigh Griffiths. The 31-year-old’s second spell at the club looked set to end in disappointing fashion with the striker struggling for form and fitness.

However, chances are he will remain a Dundee player for the rest of the season.

A return of two goals and little impact had prompted the Dark Blues to consider ending his temporary stay by sending him back to Parkhead.

In securing the deal in August, Dundee had inserted a break clause, meaning they could end the loan in January.

With that in mind, the Dark Blues have been in discussions this week with Celtic over the future of the Scotland international.

With reinforcements needed this month to bolster their Premiership survival bid, Dundee were keen to cut their losses and use the saved wages to fund January transfers.

However, Celtic have no place for him and would prefer he stay at Dens Park.

And that sees the two clubs looking to restructure the existing deal to see Griffiths remain a Dark Blue.

Dee manager James McPake intimated that a decision would be made yesterday. However, talks have dragged on.

McPake, meanwhile, has said the Dark Blues are close to making their first additions of the January transfer window.

With other clubs already doing swift business in the winter window, a week into January fans are anxious over a seeming lack of action on the transfer front at Dens Park.

However, McPake has assured them the Dark Blues are hard at work to get deals over the line.

They are in talks to bring former Inter Miami midfielder Jay Chapman, a Canada international, to Dens Park and have exDundee United man Paul Watson on trial.

And McPake says they could be in position to announce new faces soon.

He said: “We’re hoping to make the right ones.

“We are working on them and have been for a while. We know what this window is like, we have experienced it.

“You see some clubs making signings now, some do it on the very last day.

“We have our targets and there is a lot of work going on in the background to try to first get them to buy into what we are trying to do and then to get them over the line.

“We are close. The way things are going, it is a tricky window because clubs are holding on to players thinking they might need them.”

A meeting with managing director John Nelms on

Wednesday to discuss their transfer business had been revealed in the media.

But McPake says that was nothing more than a faceto-face after returning to work following time off rather than a belated meeting to thrash out this month’s dealings.

The Dens boss said: “That was done in November and we’ve spoken through December. We have spoken every day since Boxing Day.”

He added: “We have worked on a plan since the summer and through the last couple of months and we have targets.

“There are targets we want in now but there are also targets we have identified for the summer coming.”