Joe Hart hails Callum McGregor for helping him to settle in at Celtic

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New Celtic signing Joe Hart has heaped praise on Callum McGregor for helping him settle into life at the Hoops.

Hart only signed yesterday before being thrown onto a plane for the Czech Republic with his teammates. Celtic want Hart involved in the Europa League third qualifying round against Jablonec, with the first leg taking place tomorrow night.

The English veteran has a wealth of experience both at EPL and international level. However, despite that, he claims it’s always daunting meeting a new group of teammates.

And speaking in his first Celtic TV interview, Hart bigged up the influence of captain McGregor who’s helped him settle immediately:

“Callum’s been great. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been in this situation or how many teams you’ve gone into. It’s always quite daunting meeting your teammates.

“He was a class act to be honest. He made me feel at ease straight away. He’s obviously worked really hard for the previous captain, he’s taken over and you can see he’s got the respect of the lads and he’s certainly got my respect and I look forward to working for him.”

Joe Hart made to feel welcome; Callum McGregor thriving under new responsibility

McGregor had a taster of being the captain last season on a regular basis. He was considered the vice-captain to Scott Brown, but on plenty of occasions, the latter wouldn’t feature.

Indeed, last season’s calamity was often left for McGregor to front up to with regards to the media. It was always Callum who put himself out there and took on the role of our on and off-field leader.

Now that he’s been made the official captain, you can see how much he’s enjoying it already. He’s been more vocal on the pitch and clearly more involved off of it.

Hart’s praising of McGregor only goes to show how much Callum is thriving in his new role. For a Celtic supporter, it’s extremely promising to see how much he’s growing as a captain already.

As for Hart, he has a big challenge ahead of him tomorrow night. There will be nerves and tension, but that’s natural given the circumstances. Celtic know they’ve brought in a top-quality goalkeeper here, but it’s down to the former Man City man himself to show it.

He’ll get the backing of the Celtic support, that’s for certain. Now it’s time to see whether he can rediscover the talent that once made him England’s number one.

In other news, Report: Celtic looking to bring in 60k supporters for Jablonec tie