Callum McGregor has laid out a challenge to his Celtic teammates after the win over St Mirren as Matt O’Riley looks to seal his move to Brighton this weekend.
The Celtic captain was on the scoresheet once again as Brendan Rodgers’ team coasted to a 3-0 win over the Paisley club.
With a two-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership restored, Celtic face Rangers next and it is likely to be without O’Riley as he puts the finishing touches on his big move to Brighton this weekend.
And whilst the Dane does that, McGregor has laid out a challenge to his Celtic teammates after the win over St Mirren this afternoon.
McGregor tells Celtic teammates to ‘step up’
There is no doubt that when O’Riley does eventually leave for Brighton, Celtic will be weaker. And whilst the win at the SMISA was fairly comfortable, Callum McGregor has told those on the fringes that this is the time to step up and show Brendan Rodgers that they can make a mark on the Hoops first team.
McGregor told Sky Sports, “The guys that are left here now, they’ve got to step up. And that’s what we’re about. It’s a squad game.
“Matt develops himself and moves on to a bigger level, and that’s brilliant. That’s another sort of backhanded compliment for the lads as well.
“When you bring them into this environment, we get them working, we make them better players, and then it’s just the next cycle happens again.
“We get the next get the next one, and we do the same. But like, Alistair said this is about mentality and working hard, and when you’ve got that, then players come and go, but the structure has to stay the same.”
Paulo Bernardo and Reo Hatate both did a fine job beside McGregor but there are others at the club who should be looking to give the Celtic boss something to think about.
Celtic fringe players who need to show their worth
Tomoki Iwata has been at the club for almost two years now and has flitted in and out of the starting matchday squad but was not included in the matchday squad.
Young Odin Thiago Holm was given 15 minutes to show what he could do and in his short cameo as did Francis Turley who was brought on in the 89th minute to close out the game.
Whilst both are a long way off from becoming starters, they didn’t do their chances any harm to be included in Rodgers’ match-day squad moving forward.
As for replacing O’Riley, the Celtic boss has the unenviable task of doing just that but it does seem that he will need to dip into the transfer market to do so because as it stands at the moment, Celtic’s midfield does need strength in depth for the Champions League campaign that starts in just over three weeks time.
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