Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths has spoken out for the first time on the Patryk Klimala signing.
Things didn’t look too great for Leigh after he seemed to close down his Twitter profile on the same day Klimala signed for the club. This came after he “liked” BBC journalist Stefan Bienkowski’s tweet about him potentially leaving the club.
In the end, it seems to have been the case that Griff was simply liking the tweet sarcastically. The striker even celebrated his goal against Partick Thistle yesterday with the same celebration he posted on Twitter before deleting it last week.
Griffiths has now reactivated his social media. As well as that, he’s also finally spoken about Klimala’s signing too. Speaking after Celtic’s win over Thistle, this is what he had to say:
“Not really (did Klimala’s signing give him an extra edge?). We’re always going to be linked with players, whether it be strikers, midfielders, defenders.
“We’ve brought another striker in and he looks good so far from what I’ve seen of him. It just adds that extra bit of competition for places. I’m delighted to get the shout tonight to start the game and I’ve done myself no harm by scoring and playing well.”
Griffiths’ attitude yesterday is exactly what we’re after
Superb stuff from Griffiths this, and it’s probably the comments the fans needed to hear. For those not on social media, it could’ve been a bit of a confusing saga for them to read about what happened on the platform last week.
However, Griff’s words provide us with evidence that he’s in the mood for a battle. Klimala won’t be getting anything for free from the Scotland international, and competition remains sky-high in the striking department.
You also have to admit that Griffiths looked sharp yesterday. For a player who looked like he was struggling so much pre-Winter break, this was a performance he needed.
Not only did he score, but his vision and tenacity were both high-points. He provided two fine passes for Odsonne Edouard that the Frenchman should’ve stuck away. His ball-retention was of high quality too as he ran the Partick defence ragged.
Perhaps a contest against Championship opposition was exactly what Griff needed. It puts the pressure on new-man Klimala, and proves to both the supporters and Neil Lennon that he still knows where the net is.
Whether he’s done enough to earn a spot against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night remains to be seen. For now, however, things are looking much brighter for him.
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