Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths’ resurgence in Neil Lennon’s first-team has been one of the major success stories at the club in 2020 so far.
This time last year the forward’s future at Celtic Park was considered to be very much in doubt after taking a hiatus from football that would keep him out for an extended period in 2018/19.
Returning to training in time for the summer’s pre-season preparations, he just couldn’t get firing at the start of this campaign either.
It led to some pretty over the top criticism from pundits.
Former Rangers man Kris Boyd suggested he might not be trying hard enough in training in early December, despite Lennon assuring everyone he was just being eased back into action (The Scottish Sun).
Boyd’s criticism extended well into January even when he had begun to turn around his form, suggesting live on Sky Sports that the player was not pulling his weight, without providing context that he had to take a break from the game last year.
Doubters now look foolish
Since Lennon changed his go-to Celtic formation to a regular 3-5-2, Griffiths is again reaching peak form and has struck up a quality partnership with Odsonne Edouard.
The duo regularly link up and show off skilful moments in the final third, with Griffiths’ presence also freeing up the Frenchman to terrorise opposition defences.
The Scotland international has now scored five goals in his last nine games, netting at a pace well beyond some much-hyped talents in Scottish football such as Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent – combined.
The Colombian forward was electric in the first half of the season but has scored just one goal in eight matches since the turn of the year and none at all in league competition.
Kent’s only goal this year meanwhile came in a 2-1 defeat against Hearts, from ten 2020 appearances. He hasn’t created an assist in a year, while Griffiths has provided two since January.
When you consider that this season Morelos has been described as the best striker in the country (Scottish Sun) and winger Kent arrived in a £7.5m deal from Liverpool (Sky Sports), it’s quite amusing that Griffiths is playing much better than both.
The fact that Boyd greatly praised Morelos around the time he dismissed the 29-year-old (Daily Record), adds another layer to it all.
It’s fair to say that Griffiths has completely destroyed any suggestion that he is finished at Celtic.
If he ends up lifting trophies in May, it may be sweeter for him than anyone.
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