Darren Bent has showered Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths in praise when speaking to Football Insider.
The 19-cap Scotland international – who has only started 16 games this season despite making 31 appearances in total – netted a hat-trick against St Mirren at the weekend to take his tally for the campaign to 11 goals.
The 29-year-old also has four assists to his name, and following his weekend treble, ex-England international Bent has singled the former Wolves attacker out for praise.
Griffiths has even been tipped to make Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the upcoming EURO 2020 playoffs, something that the player himself has said he would welcome, but doesn’t have his heart set on desperately.
What did he say?
Bent told Football Insider: “He’s been absolutely brilliant, to be fair, scoring that hat trick. He always used to score goals for them but for whatever reason he doesn’t get the credit he probably feels he deserves. It’s a bit of a strange one – actually it’s a very strange one – but all he can keep doing is do the business.
“It seems he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”
Hard to disagree
Having taken a step back from the game in December 2018 due to personal problems involving his mental health, the striker made a return to football in July 2019 before urging people to speak up about their own issues.
Getting back into football after that takes a lot of courage, and Griffiths deserves praise regardless of whether he is finding the back of the net or not.
So, the fact that he is bagging goals for Neil Lennon’s side – especially a hat-trick – speaks volumes and shows the character of the man, while he quite rightly deserves praise from Bent and also the kind words he received from Celtic icon John Hartson.
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If he can keep up this kind of form, then there is no reason why he cannot be involved to help Scotland qualify for EURO 2020.
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