West Bromwich Albion wanted to bring Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths to the Premier League in the summer; now Crystal Palace are interested, too.
With speculation intensifying by the day about Moussa Dembele’s future at Parkhead, the last thing Celtic need right now is for Premier League clubs to be making a move for Leigh Griffiths.
But according to the Daily Record, the Scottish champions could be forced to deal with interest in another of their key players this month with West Bromwch Albion, who were linked with a £6 million move for Griffiths in the summer, joining Crystal Palace in sending scouts to watch the number nine in recent times.
While Griffiths has given no indication that he sees his future anywhere other than at Celtic, questions have emerged over the last few weeks about his role in Brendan Rodgers’ plans.
The striker was dropped from the starting XI for an extended period before Christmas and only nine of his 17 Scottish Premiership appearances have come from the start. Rodgers expressed doubts about Griffiths’ professionalism last season, as reported by the Scotsman, and he has even found himself behind PSG loanee Odsonne Edouard in the pecking order at times.
But with Dembele looking increasingly likely to be on his way before the month is out, surely Celtic will not even begin to consider offers for Griffiths.
The former Hibs talisman remains a crucial member of Celtic’s squad even if he’s not always a starter and his importance will only increase if, or when, French phenomenon Dembele heads down south to the Premier League.
West Brom and Crystal Palace, then, may be wasting their time in their pursuit of a goal-scorer to fire them to safety.
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