Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths today set his sights on becoming a Scotland goal scoring sensation after a prolific season on the domestic front.

The 25-year-old has netted 39 times in all competitions for the Hoops during the current campaign but has yet to break his duck with the international team.

Griffiths, who picked up the PFA Scotland Player of the Year Award last Sunday, has earned seven caps for his country but is still looking for that elusive first goal in Scotland colours.

The national side have two friendlies coming up against Italy and France towards the end of the month and Griffiths is hoping his poaching instincts will convince Gordon Strachan to give him a chance to lead the line.

He said. “I have only played a few times for Scotland but that is my next aim - to go and score a goal for my country. It would be nice to do that. But I still need to wait my turn. If selected I will give it my all. As long as I keep doing well at Celtic I will keep knocking on the door.”

Strachan spoke highly of Griffiths as the Scotland manager presented him with his Player of the Year gong at the weekend and the Celtic ace added: “It did give me a pleasant feeling and that capped off a great season. He was very positive in how he spoke about me and hopefully in the friendlies I can show him what I can do.”

With Celtic manager Ronny Deila set to depart the club at the end of the season, Griffiths knows all the Parkhead players will have to impress the new gaffer, whoever that may be.

Deila took time to warm to Griffiths in the early stages of his tenure and the Norwegian used the Edinburgh-born forward mainly as a substitute.

But Griffiths reckons he has made a career out of proving people wrong – and he’s ready to prove his worth again when the Hoops get a new man in the hot seat.

He said: “I had to wait my chance, five months, and after that I never looked back. I’m not going to be too down-hearted if the new manager comes in and doesn’t fancy me at first because I know when Ronny came in I had to wait my turn.

“If the new manager comes in and doesn’t fancy me at first I’ll keep my head down and work hard to pave a way back into the team.

“My goals are on show from the past 18 months, but if he wants to bring another striker into the squad he thinks is better than me I’ll work hard in training pitch to make sure that doesn’t happen.

"I’m listening and taking on board a lot more from my coaches. My all-round game’s got better, I’m not selfish any more. Obviously as a striker you’re judged on scoring goals, but it’s my all-round game I had to improve and can improve. There are aspects of my game I still need to work on. I read John Hartson say that there were still things he worked on when he was into his 30s, but I’m still young, still got a lot to improve on and if I can improve on these things I’ll be an even better player.

Griffiths added: “My career has been based on scoring goals and I’ve scored goals wherever I’ve gone and I’m thriving at the minute and want to keep that going. The season is going to come to an end but I don’t want it to. Hopefully, we are not off for too long and I can carry my form for the season into the two friendlies for Scotland, if I get the nod. I hope I won’t be off for longer after that and I can come back and fire Celtic into the Champions League.”