Celtic legend Chris Sutton has recently made a claim about Leigh Griffiths and his situation at Parkhead.
Sutton was a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. One player that he focused on was Griffiths and Sutton believes that the striker still has a lot of repaying to do and if he was fit before, Celtic could have gone further in the Champions League qualifying stages.
The Hoops had lost to Ferencvaros in the second qualifying round of the Champions League and Griffiths wasn’t fit enough for the game (as per Transfermarkt).
Griffiths made his first appearance of the season against St. Johnstone on Sunday. He came on from the bench and scored a late goal for the Bhoys before Patryk Klimala scored Celtic’s second (as per WhoScored).
Sutton believes that Griffiths, who is valued at £1.80m, still has a lot of repaying to do and he feels that the striker had attitude issues before.
He said: “I think that argument is fair – had Leigh Griffiths been fit, then Celtic [would have had a] good chance of being in the Champions League qualifiers. He repaid Neil Lennon a little bit with the goal up in Perth, but I think he’s got a lot more repaying to do, really.
Can Griffiths get back to his best?
Yes
No
“Because that was an attitude issue – ‘I can’t be bothered’. We know he’s such a talented player and it was great to see him back.”
TIF Thoughts…
Griffiths was suffering from a calf strain issue earlier in the season. Before that, he had turned up for the club’s pre-season training in an overweight condition and Neil Lennon had publicly criticised him for it too. He was left behind when the club’s squad flew to France for their pre-season friendlies.
So it is understandable why Sutton feels that Griffiths had some attitude issues. Considering how important Griffiths was in the second half of last season, it is easy to see why Sutton believes that Celtic might have gone far in the Champions League qualifiers if the Scotsman had been fit for the game against Ferencvaros.