Neil Lennon reveals good news for Celtic and Scotland over Leigh Griffiths

Neil Lennon has a bit of good news for the beleaguered Scotland fans.

The national team doesn’t have a manager – but they could soon have a star striker back.

Lennon, who ruled himself out of the running to replace Alex McLeish in charge of Scotland, believes Leigh Griffiths could be ready to face Cyprus and Belgium in June.

The 28-year-old has been on an indefinite break from football since the start of December to resolve personal problems.

A return to full training is now imminent,  and Lennon would like to see him taking part in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

He said: “Leigh is training twice a day on his own at the moment.

“He still has to be integrated into the group and is a week or two away from that.

“He will be alright with going back into the group. The hard work at the minute is the mentally tough part.

“It is a slow, meticulous routine of conditioning, so he doesn’t break down again.

“He is getting there. I think he’ll be fit for the qualifiers.

“It would do him good. It would keep him ticking over. He has a bit of work still to do.

“It would be nice for Scotland, and it would be nice for me to have a quality striker added to the ones I’ve got.

“He won’t be a million miles away, put it that way.”

Whoever gets the task of managing Scotland in the double-header would surely be interested in using a forward of Griffiths’ ability.

What may well count against him is the long break away from club football.

Lennon, however, is confident that Griffiths can quickly get back to his best.

He went on: “He’s young enough to do it. He’s only 28.

“He’s had, what, a year out? He’s had a rest now and he needs to get back to work.

“He’s a top-quality striker. He was at his peak and got 40 goals in one season. That’s quite a significant return.

“He’s got the game, there’s no question of that. He just needs to get back in the right condition.”

A fit Leigh Griffiths would certainly add a bit of firepower to the current Celtic side.

Lennon, who took the player to Parkhead from Wolves five years ago, added: “I don’t think we have scored enough goals in the league this season, when compared to other seasons.

“I understand why when you are losing a 25 to 30-goal striker.

“Leigh is capable of doing that. But he needs to get back doing it.

“When he was scoring his goals against England for Scotland a couple of years ago, he looked a right good player.

“He scores the type of goals that other strikers don’t get. He sniffs them out.

“You can’t buy that. It’s natural. When we bought him, he always hit the target.

“He was good in the air, from set-plays he was decent and he was a really good finisher as well.

“I don’t think you lose that, so there’s plenty of scope for him to come back and join the party again.”

This afternoon, the goals will have to come from other players when Celtic take on Hibs at Easter Road.

Lennon admits he can’t help keeping a close eye on the club he managed for two-and-a-half years before leaving at the start of this year.

He said: “It’s human nature to look at it and think: ‘Did I miss something there. Could we have done that better?’.

“They’ll be buoyed by the derby win over Hearts. That was a long time coming.

“They earned that, and Paul Heckingbottom’s done a great job since coming in, so we know how difficult the game will be.

“This time last year, when I was in charge of Hibs, Celtic could have won the league there but didn’t.

“We have to use that as motivation to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”