Former Celtic captain Paul Lambert is relishing the return of Callum McGregor to the Bhoys starting line-up later this month, insisting that the midfielder will keep standards high despite a nine-point lead in the table.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have surged ahead at the top of the Scottish Premiership with the greatest risk of letting a lead slip being complacency.
Lambert reckons McGregor will be pushing harder than ever to prevent that from happening, feeling that his return from injury is a big boost to Celtic’s season.
As quoted by The Sunday Mail [04/12 print edition, page 67], he said: “In any of the big dressing-rooms I played in – like Celtic and Dortmund – there were some massive characters who wouldn’t put up with standards dropping in training.
“Callum plays like a captain. He’s not a shouter or bawler, he leads by example. At Celtic, there are certain standards there and you have to live up to them. That’s the way it should be.
“They should never drop because it’s a high-demand club in terms of winning games. And the great thing about Callum is he knows all about that because he has been there his whole career.
“Callum coming back is a really good thing for Celtic ahead of the title run-in. He’ll be looking forward to being fit again and getting back playing. Right now, he’s the guy that makes Celtic tick.”
McGregor joined the Celtic squad at Lennoxtown training earlier this week and will be involved in the Portuguese training camp this week. He could even get minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against French side Rennes next Saturday.
Postecoglou has declared him ‘ready to go’, so the odds are good that he features against Aberdeen at Pittodrie in two weeks time, should there be no reaction on his knee in the build-up.
Getting back in the team at such a crucial stage of the season is indeed massive, as Lambert says. He knows what it takes to win trophies and will using that experience to push Celtic in the second half of the season.
In other news, Report: No Celtic contact for Oscar Gloukh despite many headlines.
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