LEIGH Griffiths last night revealed his representatives are in talks with Celtic over a new contract – and admitted he would like to stay long enough to be awarded a testimonial like Scott Brown.
Griffiths has more than two years remaining on his current deal, but he is keen to commit his long-term future to the Parkhead club and is confident an agreement will be reached on an extension soon.
The 27-year-old has netted 97 goals since joining from Hibernian over four years ago and become a firm fans’ favourite and is keen to stay for the remainder of his career like his captain and close friend Brown.
“My representatives are working behind the scenes to try and get me a new deal,” he said.
“Why would you want to go anywhere else? You are playing at a top club with a top manager in front of 50,000 or 60,000 every week.
“There’s no reason to go anywhere. You have Champions League football every season. It’s hard to get there now, but when you do get there, those are memorable nights. It is early stages just now, but hopefully we can get it done sooner rather than later.”
Brown has been rewarded for 10 years of outstanding service to Celtic with a testimonial season - his side will play a Republic of Ireland XI at Parkhead on Sunday, May 20.
Griffiths admitted that he would like to go on and achieve what his former Scotland team mate has at the Glasgow club in future.
“Hopefully if we can come to an agreement, I’ll not be far off Broony,” he said. “I think he has deserved his testimonial. The type of guy he is, he is deserving of everything he gets.”
Griffiths spent a difficult spell in England with Wolves before he joined Celtic – he was loaned out to Hibernian for two seasons and played just 26 games in four years - and stressed he has no desire to return down south in future.
“Everybody keeps mentioning I was put off in England and that I came back up the road because I was scared,” he said. “But if you look at the records, I still finished joint top scorer when I left in January.
“Fair enough, we were in the Premier League and I got put on loan, but that stood me in good stead for going back down. I had a good crack at it when I went back down, but when Celtic come calling, you do not reject it.”
Meanwhile, Griffiths has admitted he may have got “a wee bit carried away” with his celebrations after Celtic defeated Rangers in a Ladbrokes Premier-ship game at Ibrox last month.
The 27-year-old, who missed the game due to injury, was pictured standing on a railing at the Govan stadium and waving an Irish tricolour after Brendan Rodgers’s team had come from behind twice to beat Graeme Murty’s side 3-2 and effectively wrap up their seventh consecutive Scottish title.
The Scotland striker, who netted two free-kicks against England in the Russia 2018 qualifier at Hampden in June, was criticised by many members of the Tartan Army for his actions.
But Griffiths, who made his second appearance since recovering from his calf injury in the 0-0 draw with Dundee at Celtic Park on Wednesday night, de-fended his conduct and stressed he was simply celebrating an important re-sult for his club.
“You want to go to your fiercest rivals and show what a good team you are,” he said. “Being injured you aren’t involved on the pitch, but you want to make sure you enjoy it off it as well.
“I don’t think I am the only one. I think KT (Kieran Tierney) and everybody else all go to the away games if they can and mix with the fans. I am no different. It just so happens that the one I went to was Ibrox.
“Maybe I got a wee bit carried away. But after the game you are happy your team has won and have beaten your fiercest rivals. You want to go and celebrate with the fans.
“Some guy handed it to me. It was just one of those things. It wasn’t intentional. I just wanted to show everybody how happy I was that the team got the three points.”
Griffiths made his comeback after two months out when he came on in the Ladbrokes Premiership game against Ross County last Saturday and is convinced he has full recovered from the calf problems which have plagued him in recent seasons.
“The specialist identified straight away during my assessment where it was coming from and how we can rectify that and move forward," he said. "Hopefully we won’t have another problem again.”
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