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Griffiths is left behind to work on f itness as Celtic travel to France

LEIGH GRIFFITHS has been dropped from Celtic’s travelling party as the squad prepares to ramp up its pre-season preparations in France this week.

The striker, who scored 11 goals last season, will instead remain at the club’s Lennoxtown base to work on a bespoke fitness and conditioning programme after falling behind his team-mates during lockdown.

Beset by personal issues over the past couple of seasons, Griffiths had returned to the first team after the winter break and formed a menacing partnership with Player of the Year Odsonne Edouard, scoring eight times in 13 games as Celtic built a clear lead at the top of the Premiership table.

The scorer of a hat-trick in the Parkhead side’s last competitive match against St Mirren back in March, Griffiths had been tipped to regain a recall to the Scotland team before football was cancelled in response to coronavirus.

Celtic issued each player with an individual training plan during the extended break but while most returned in top-class condition, Griffiths (pictured) came back significantly short of peak fitness.

Manager Neil Lennon elected not to include the 29-year-old in the group that travelled south to a training camp at Loughborough University in midweek and neither will he play any part in friendly matches against Nice and Lyon over the next seven

days. A club spokesman said: ‘Leigh is undertaking his own fitness programme, along with some other players at Lennoxtown. He will team up with the squad when they return from France.’

Since returning to Celtic last year, Lennon has been publicly and privately supportive of Griffiths, not least over his mental-health issues. However, this latest development will inevitably lead to questions over the forward’s future as a firstteam player for the club.

With Griffiths (pictured) stuck at home, this weekend’s matches will give Polish striker Patryk Klimala, a January signing from Jagiellonia Bialystok, a chance to stake a claim for a first-team place.

The £3million man admits he was ‘tired’ when he first arrived in Glasgow and made only four appearances for his new club.

The 21-year-old has, however, impressed the Celtic medical staff with his fitness since returning for pre-season.

Meanwhile, James Forrest has urged goalkeeper Fraser Forster to return to Parkhead and finish the job of helping Celtic to 10 in a row.

Forster had been expected to return to Glasgow on another season-long loan from Southampton but the 32-year-old rejected that proposal as he holds out for a permanent deal.

Celtic manager Lennon has made Forster his priority signing but the transfer presents a significant financial challenge. Forster has two years to run on his current contract of £90,000 a week, while a fee in the region of £5m has also been mooted. Forrest hopes Celtic can get the deal over the line.

Of the side that began the club’s sequence of nine consecutive title wins, only Forrest and club captain Scott Brown remain on the books but Forster too was part of that 2012 team, two years ahead of his £10m move to the south coast.

‘Everyone is hoping Fraser comes back,’ said Forrest. ‘I played with Fraser during his first spell and then last season he came back and was tremendous. ‘We just need to wait and see over the next couple of weeks to see what he decides to do.

‘But we all want him back at the club.’