Leigh Griffiths is finally playing football again for Celtic.
Chris Sutton has claimed that a red-hot Leigh Griffiths is the equivalent of a £20 million signing by Celtic.
The Hoops marksman has had a year to forget.
Griffiths was granted leave by Celtic for personal reasons for more than half of the 2018-19 campaign, while injury has hindered him this season.
But the 29-year-old made his first Premiership appearance since August in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Livingston at Parkhead.
He was given a 22-minute cameo by manager Neil Lennon and his arrival drew a huge cheer from the fans.
This is a player who scored 40 goals for Celtic during the 2015-16 under Ronny Deila, and former Bhoys hitman Sutton believes that he’s simply invaluable to the Premiership champions if he can rediscover his best form.
He told The Record: “He has been through a lot and we want to see him coming back strongly and banging in goals for Celtic because if he gets back to that level then it would be like a £20million signing.”
Is Sutton right? Well the bit about him being like a £20 million signing is questionable, but Griffiths is an outstanding goalscorer.
His tally from Deila’s last season in Glasgow is testament to the fact that, on his day, he is simply unplayable. In fact, Moussa Dembele never scored more than 31 in a single season for Celtic, which puts Griffiths’s achievement from the 2015-16 season into context.
There’s a lot of pressure on Odsonne Edouard to fire the club to a ninth successive Premiership crown this season, but if Griffiths shares the responsibility then it’s a massive boost for Lennon’s side.
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