BBC pundit: January bids will be made for this Celtic senior player (not Dembele or Tierney)

Tam McManus has claimed that bids will be made for Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths in the January transfer window if he fails to earn more first-team football, suggesting that teams like Everton and Newcastle could do with the Scotland international.

Griffiths, 27, has started just two of Celtic's last seven Premiership fixtures and has been an unused substitute for the last three matches.

BBC Sportsound pundit McManus is worried that the Scotland international may leave Parkhead due to his lack of football after seeming to drop below Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard in the pecking order.

Now, McManus has claimed that offers are likely for the former Hibernian forward and an exit could be on the cards.

"There is no question that clubs south of the border will be keeping close tabs on Leigh’s current situation at Celtic. His two goals against England back in June would have seen him penned, rather than pencilled, in to the notebooks of a few Premiership and Championship notebooks," he said in his column on the Herald website.

"I look at clubs like Brighton and Huddersfield, even Everton or Newcastle, and think he would go straight into their team. "

He added: "I’m certain that if he remains third-choice striker at Celtic going into the January window that teams in the English Premiership will test just how much Celtic want to keep him. Bids will come in and he could be moving out."

The Daily Record reported in the summer that Newcastle and West Brom were both keeping close tabs on Celtic senior player Griffiths, however no such move materialised for the Premier League duo, who have been short of firepower this season.

It has been widely reported that his striker team-mate Moussa Dembele is also attracting attention from south of the border, as well as left-back Kieran Tierney.

Brendan Rodgers had made it clear that he wants to bring in new faces in January, especially in his defence, but it seems that his biggest job may be fending off other clubs from snapping up his best talent.

In other Celtic news, Rodgers has hailed this player after the draw against Hibernian.

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