CELTIC STRIKER LEIGH Griffiths is taking a break from football “for a period of time” as he receives professional help to deal with personal issues.
Manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed today that the 28-year-old Scotland international will take an indefinite break to focus on himself.
In a stop-start season that has been disrupted by injuries, Griffiths has made 22 appearances and scored six times for the Hoops, while he withdrew from the Scotland squad to face Israel and Portugal in October to concentrate on his fitness.
This though, the boss said, is more than a football issue.
“Leigh has had ongoing issues for a number of months,” Rodgers said, as quoted by BBC.
“He has reached a point where it’s a struggle for him. We are going to give him all the professional help he needs to get him back in a good place.”
Rodgers declined to elaborate on the issues, labelling them “confidential”, but noted that the player “needs to find a happiness.”
“He’s a great guy but football and life is tough for him right now,” Rodgers added. “We want to help him with that and we’ll let you know when he’s back.
“I’m very close with him. We have a strong relationship but he’s had number of issues outside of football.
“The most important thing for managers and coaches is the welfare of players. It’s no longer a weakness to talk now. He has all of our support — the team, the staff and the supporters.”
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As much as professional footballers can be seen as having it easy, the environment they’re in now where every aspect of your working life is publicly judged and you probably can’t log in to twitter or Instagram without seeing some form of personal abuse, or something directed at family, must be seriously impactful on your day to day mental health. Hope he gets his head right
@Craig O’Dwyer: it’s for gambling issues, an addiction and debilitating all the same and I don’t for a second want to suggest it’s not but this is of his own doing. Nothing to do with being abused by fans on a regular basis. Is it was that it would be far more understandable. Also if it is gambling surely there’s a ban to follow, there’s a blanket ban or something like that for players in the Scottish league isn’t there?
@Declan O’Hara: Least your family know you’re not the one to go to if they need help.. Also you don’t know what gambling he was doing. You can’t get banned for playing poker or betting on the horses..
@Declan O’Hara: I hope you learn to build some empathy as you get older Declan.
@Declan O’Hara: what an absolute a hole. Where are you getting your info? It’s been known for some time he suffers with mental health issues, but again that’s nothing to the likes of you. And the abuse he gets online and on the street is beyond sickening at times just because he plays for Celtic. Crawl back under that rock and have a look at yourself while under there. M u p p e t
Hope he’s sorts his head out and gets back playing as soon as he can.. But Celtic need to get one or two strikers in asap. If Edwaurd gets injured we’ve nothing up front
Massive fan of Griffiths. The most natural finisher we’ve had since Henrik Larsson. Big blow losing him but it’s only football. Hopefully he comes back healthier, mentally and physically.
Big problems for us now. Only one available striker and I doubt there will be anything decent available in January.
@Ciaran Rice: Get Morelos in for next to nothing
@Ciaran Foy: hardly be a fan favourite