Frank McAvennie has got it totally wrong with Callum McGregor and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at Celtic

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is back in the Celtic building.

Celtic’s call to re-sign Oxlade-Chamberlain, after his six-month spell last term, has delighted Frank McAvennie, because he feels that with a pre-season under his belt, he can thrive in Glasgow.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was training with Arsenal, and he hadn’t been at a club for half a year after ripping up his Beşiktaş contract the previous summer.

But now McAvennie feels that Celtic and Martin O’Neill can ‘allow Callum McGregor to move forward a bit’, with Oxlade-Chamberlain sitting back, as he told his Let Me Be Frank YouTube channel.

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Frank McAvennie backs Callum McGregor and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to play together

“Great signing for me,” said McAvennie about Oxlade-Chamberlain’s return to Celtic.

“Get him a pre-season now. He’s doing a pre-season now. One million per cent (Celtic will see more from Oxlade-Chamberlain). If the fitness guys are as good as they think they are, then yeah. 

“I would think it would allow Callum to move forward a little bit, because that’s his best position.”

McAvennie has got it wrong with McGregor and Oxlade-Chamberlain

First and foremost, McAvennie has suggested, ‘if the fitness guys think they are as good as they think they are’, then Oxlade-Chamberlain will get back to his best.

No, if the 32-year-old can manage to play an entire season, which he hasn’t done for several years, remain injury-free and find that spark again, then Celtic will benefit from it.

You surely can’t put that down to the ‘fitness guys.’ Look at Kelechi Iheanacho, this isn’t a Celtic problem, but a Iheanacho problem. He needs to sort the fitness side of his game out, and it’s up to him only, just like it is with the Ox.

Then you have the suggestion of McGregor playing ‘further forward.’ Once again, it would be better if the Celtic skipper could sit back and dictate the game, especially at his age.

Days of McGregor surging forward again and again are fading away. Put more legs around him, and watch him run the show from deep.

Finally, the thought of McGregor and Oxlade-Chamberlain playing together regularly, both of whom will be 33 for the 2026/27 Premiership season, doesn’t exactly fill you with great confidence.

Celtic don’t have enough legs in the middle of the park as it is, especially with Benjamin Nygren seriously lacking in that department despite his 15 league goals last term.