Celtic manager Neil Lennon hints at return for Leigh Griffiths in Sarajevo after almost seven months out

Striker is “handy to have around”

Celtic's Leigh Griffiths departs for Savajevo at Glasgow Airport.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has revealed that Leigh Griffiths could have a role to play in the club’s Europa League play-off clash against FC Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The 30-year-old striker could be used as an impact substitute as Celtic seek to book European group stage football for a 10th consecutive season.

Griffiths has not featured competitively in the near seven months since he bagged a hat-trick against St Mirren in the Scottish champions’ last game before the Covid-19 lockdown in March.

Conditioning issues on his return to training following the pause to football caused him to be lambasted by Lennon. He then suffered a calf injury as his future at Celtic was called into question.

However, with Albian Ajeti sustaining a hamstring injury while scoring his fifth goal in Celtic colours as Hibernian were defeated 3-0 at the weekend and Odsonne Edouard enduring a period of lean form, the Celtic manager hasn’t ruled a re-emergence for Griffiths - who made the bench on Sunday - in Sarajevo.

“He’s ready to play a part. He’s really handy to have around so he could get game time if we need him,” said Lennon. “We’ll gauge that as we go along but he’ll definitely be in the squad. He’s doing OK although he’s obviously not played a lot of football but he’s been training the past few weeks and has looked more up to speed. Obviously, the cardiovascular and match fitness through not playing games is lacking, but it’s good to have him back in the squad and he’s been training well.”

Christopher Jullien returns to the Celtic squad after missing out in recent weeks with a back problem, but while Lennon expects Ajeti to be available for the Rangers encounter on October 17, that could come too soon for another notable absentee, James Forrest.

The winger was this week ruled out of Scotland’s squad for their Euro 2020 play-off with Israel on October 8 subsequent to suffering ankle bone bruising in the Europa League qualifier in Riga a week ago.

“Jamesey is looking at longer than the Rangers game,” said the Celtic manager. “I haven’t got an exact time frame but it is very sore at the minute. We’re just waiting on confirmation from the specialist.”

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