Lennon on Griffiths: "He's come back out of condition and overweight. Any physical work we asked him to do, he was coming out of saying he was injured"
Friday 17 July 2020 07:31, UK
.Celtic boss Neil Lennon has accused Leigh Griffiths of letting the club down by putting on weight in lockdown and has criticised his social media "nonsense".
The Scotland international striker was left behind for the trip to France where the Hoops are competing for the Veolia Trophy after failing to impress Lennon with his condition.
Celtic began the tournament with a 1-1 draw with Nice in Lyon on Thursday, with Patryk Klimala scoring his first goal for the club.
But after the match, Lennon made no secret of his displeasure with Griffiths and warned him that his future was on the line at Celtic Park.
"I'm not happy. I think that's fairly obvious by the fact that we've left him behind," Lennon told reporters.
"He's come back out of condition and overweight. Any physical work we asked him to do, he was coming out of saying he was injured. That's going to be the case because he's out of condition.
"It would have been absolutely pointless bringing him with us. We had an extensive week in Loughborough and he wouldn't have been fit to play the games here. The ball is firmly in his court in terms of getting in the right condition.
"He needs to stop all the social media nonsense with all these slogans he puts out there.
"The boys here are all top professionals and I have a great staff who are all professional as well. They deserve better and he should know better.
"If he wants to have a future here at the club, it's down to himself. We're not prepared to do a lot more for him. Everything's there for him. He's let himself down and he's let us down."
Griffiths, 29, has been with Celtic since 2014 and has scored 84 goals in 151 league appearances for the Hoops.
