LEIGH GRIFFITHS has enjoyed a week with his feet up - but the striker has insisted that he will heed the lessons of last year's close season as he looks to return to Celtic with his first-team place still intact.

The 24-year-old has had a breather this week, but will haul on his boots when he teams up with Gordon Strachan's Scotland squad for the international friendly against Qatar and the critical Uefa European Championship qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin next month.

The recall into the national team has been a just reward for his Celtic performances in the latter part of the campaign.

Griffiths finished the season with 20 goals - a tally he believes he can add to significantly next term if he starts as he left off.

And the striker believes that rounding off his season with international football would pave the way to ensuring he is in the best of shape when Celtic return to training at the end of June with a view to being ready for the Champions League qualifiers.

"I want to come back as fit as possible," he said. "I won't be taking a lot of time off. I will be training when I am away with Scotland and then I will be getting in a few runs and going to the gym when I am off. I want to come back fresh and ready to hit the ground running.

"I don't want to give up what I have got my hands on in the last few months of the season so I know that I have to keep on pushing and keep trying to get better.

"Last year I didn't do enough when I was off and I paid the price for that when I came back and couldn't get into the team. I was out of shape and it took me too long to get back up to speed.

"By the time I was fitter, I'd lost my place and I don't want that again. So I'm happy to go away and do what I need to so that when I come back the manager is still happy to trust me with a starting position."

Deila has already said that he would trust Griffiths with leading the line in Europe.

But it won't stop the Norwegian looking to bring in another forward this summer, a player whose physical presence can offer Celtic something different up front.

Griffiths has insisted that he will not be giving up his position without a fight and as such he will look to impress himself upon the national team in the hope that it prepares him for the European tests that lie in wait for Celtic.

"The Champions League is where you want to be, especially at a club like Celtic," he said. "Having this qualifier against Ireland would be a great test for me personally because I would be playing against top defenders. We want to go over there and get three points."

So far was Griffiths out of the picture when the draw was made last season for the knockout stages of the Europa League that he tweeted he'd enjoy the game from the stand.

By the time the game came around he had succeeded in winning a place in Deila's team and he believes that Celtic will look to draw on the lessons from that double header against the Serie A side.

"That is the calibre of teams you want to be playing against," he said. "There were 60,000 people at Celtic Park that night and Inter Milan went 2-0 up before we came back and gave them a shock.

"We ran them close and although we weren't quite good enough over the two legs I think we learned a lot as a team from those games."

The main lessons, though, will come from last summer's debacle in the qualifying games.

"We weren't prepared and I don't think the manager was prepared last summer," admitted Griffiths. " The gaffer will know all about it this time and he will have us well prepared and we feel that we have it in us to go and get ourselves into the group stages.

"It is a big ask. It is not an easy thing to do but for a club of this size, we feel that we should be in the group stages. I can only imagine what those nights would be like, to be honest. I'd love the chance to play under the lights here in front of Europe's very best."

Meanwhile, Griffiths will be in familiar company when he teams up with Strachan's Scotland squad.

Craig Gordon, James Forrest, Charlie Mulgrew and Scott Brown are all there but the forward conceded he had expected that Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven would be called upon - although he believes their absence may be of benefit to Celtic.

"I was a little bit surprised because they have been playing on a regular basis here and doing very well. It is maybe just a bit unfortunate that there are a lot of players to pick from in those areas just now," said Griffiths.

"In one respect it might help them because they have had a lot going on with moving clubs in the middle of the season and coming here, so it might give them a decent break now.

"They will get the chance to come back here fresh and fit and I am sure they won't be too far away from the squad if they keep doing what they have over the last few months."