Since taking over at Celtic, Brendan Rodgers has been in the news quite bit.
After claiming that losing to a side from Gibraltar in a competitive game was not an embarrassment, and waiting what seemed like an eternity to sign a defender to replace the hapless Efe Ambrose, perhaps Rodgers' strangest act of the summer window has arisen while praising striker Leigh Griffiths.
Griffiths scored against Barcelona in Dublin last weekend and will once again be the man tasked with getting the goals for Celtic, something he has proven he is more than capable of after bagging an impressive 31 league goals last season, but his manager has compared him to one of the very best strikers in the planet in Luis Suarez, and he used a wonderfully crap cliché to do so.
Remember when pundits were claiming that if Big Sam was called Sam Allardici he would be one of the most sought after managers in Europe? Well Brendan went one better by claiming Griffiths would be worth far more if he had a more "latino" sounding name, while discussing Astana's appeal to get the Scottish striker banned for striking an opponent in the first leg.
If there was anything really in it he would have been red-carded.
He got a yellow and what this tells you is how much of a threat they see him as. They obviously respect him so much as a player they want try to get him banned from the game. You can only assume that’s why they took the course of action they took, in the hope it might work that way.
I always think that to be a winner, and to be the best, you need to be on the limit. The best players do.
Leigh plays on the limit, as a number of our boys do. That’s what you want as a coach and a manager.
If he had a different name – a more Latino name – this guy would be talked about as being worth 15 million quid, for sure. Luis Suarez played on edge and he was alright.
Yes, Luis Suarez was, and is, "alright" but that is despite his antics and not because of them.
Griffiths will be able to play against Astana after their appeal was rejected, and he'll surely be hoping to bag a goal against the side that clearly didn't want him to play.
