Leigh Griffiths who is currently backup to Odsonne Edouard has decided (BBC Sport) to take some time off the football to focus on his ongoing personal and mental issues. Brendan Rodgers also indicated that the striker has been dealing with such problems for months now and it seems likely that he could be away for some time.
With Celtic progressing to the Europa League group stages, they will continue to have extra fixtures to contest in and with just one striker in the form of Edouard available, things don’t look good for the Hoops at the moment. It is our honest hope that the Scottish striker is up and running as soon as possible.
Griffiths released a statement about his problems and said,”I just wanted to thank everyone at the club and so many Celtic fans and other people who have sent me such kind and powerful messages of support. I’m doing all I can to come back as soon as possible a better and stronger person.”
It is believed (The Mirror) that the striker has checked himself into rehab and would continue to work on his problems off the field to come back stronger. The forward recently came under a lot of fire for his performance against Motherwell where the Hoops only managed to secure a draw. The 28-year-old striker missed a penalty and put in a lousy performance on the night.
However, the forward has been an able backup at the club for quite some time now and is a fan favourite at Celtic Park. The fans showed great support to their striker in the final Europa League game where they unveiled a classy banner which said (Joe.Co.Uk) ‘ It’s Ok not to be Ok”. The other read,” You’ll Never Walk Alone Leigh.”
With the January window approaching, we can expect the Bhoys to go after a striker after recent developments. Rodgers would hope that Odsonne Edouard can carry on in this period without getting injured as there are currently no strikers remaining in the squad. Someone from the academy might make it to the matchday squad, but at the moment no one is good enough to stake a claim in the starting eleven.
We expect either Tom Rogic or James Forrest to play up front if required. Mikey Johnston is also an option but he seems to be struggling with fitness and hasn’t been picked in the matchday squad for quite some time now. Hopefully, Griffiths’ absence is only for a short while and the Bhoys would hope that when the knock out stages of the Europa League arrives, he would be up and ready to play football.
