Police Scotland have confirmed that Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths was reported missing this week, 

The 28-year-old striker was reported missing by concerned friends on Monday after he went missing for a period of a few hours.

Yesterday, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed that Griffiths will be out of football for personal reasons “for a little period of time” as he “seeks professional help."

READ MORE: Celtic's Leigh Griffiths allowed time out to deal with 'ongoing issues' 

The police were alerted that Griffiths was missing on Monday, tracing the Celtic striker in Edinburgh City Centre.

A Police Scotland spokesman told the Evening Times: “Police were called at around 6.20pm to the Park Drive area, in Wallyford, on Monday, December 10 to a report of a concern for a person who was later found less than two hours later in Edinburgh City Centre.”

Rodgers explained an incident with Griffiths brought the striker’s illness to a head when a number of senior players intervened in order to try and facilitate some help for the Scotland internationalist.

“A couple of the senior players rang me when I got to know about an incident that happened,” said Rodgers. “I was then able to act from there.”

Rodgers admitted Griffiths had been dealing with “a number of issues outside of the football environment.”

The Northern Irishman said: “Leigh will be taken out of football now for a little period of time.

“Leigh has had ongoing issues now for a number of months and he has done amazing to play to the level and score some of the goals he has.

READ MORE: Rangers manager Steven Gerrard wishes Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths a quick recovery from off-field issues 

“But he has reached the point where it is a struggle for him and we are going to give him all the professional help that he possibly needs to get himself into a good place again.

“But in order to do that he needs to find a happiness.

“He is a father of five children, he is a great guy, but football and life is tough for him.

“We will seek the professional help. There will be an assessment of where he is at and there will be a plan in place to help him moving forward.

“We want to help him with that and we will let you know another time when he is back.”