One of the more surprising stories over the last 24 hours is that of Callum McGregor apparently interesting Leicester City once more.
The Scottish Sun reported today that McGregor is back on Brendan Rodgers’ radar. This comes after the former Celtic manager failed to bag his man last summer. The lure of 10-in-a-row was said to be too great to tempt McGregor south.
Therefore, with that goal now gone, Leicester are coming back in. The Sun believes Rodgers wants to sign up both McGregor and Celtic superstar Odsonne Edouard. But whilst the Frenchman looks likely to depart this summer, McGregor appears to be in line to take over from Scott Brown as captain.
And take a look at what Callum said about Leicester’s interest last year. It appears we can rest easy when it comes to where he sees himself.
“I am very happy at the club”
As quoted by the Daily Record last summer, McGregor said: “I am loving my Celtic career and it seems to be going from strength to strength. I signed a long-term deal last year. That’s what I wanted, that’s what the club wanted. They want Celtic to be dominant and I want to be part of that. It’s why I pledged my long-term future to the club.
“The stuff in the summer was nice to hear – that an ex-manager liked working with you. There was speculation and you kinda do have half an eye on that, but you are also just focused on doing your best for Celtic. I had a job to do for the club and as soon as I got the contract sorted, I just felt like I went from strength to strength.
“I am very happy at the club and that was very well reciprocated in terms of what the club did for me. We showed some good loyalty to each other and I was just desperate to get back to enjoying football.My performances, from the moment the contract was sorted, probably kicked on.”
Celtic under no pressure to sell Callum McGregor; new carrots now emerging for him despite Leicester City interest
These are promising comments made by McGregor last summer as he reflected on Leicester City’s interest. With the Foxes seemingly coming back in for him, you would hope he is of the same mindset.
Yes, 10-in-a-row is gone, and it’s hurtful. However, that hurt is the seed for one of many new carrots that will have opened up for McGregor. Should he stay in Glasgow
He won’t want to end his Celtic spell without the title under his belt. It’s something that will surely rankle with him. Even if he is to leave at some stage in the future, you would expect Callum to want to regain the title first. This was something he hinted at back in February, when he told the press that he was ready to come back next season and win the league [Celtic TV].
Another carrot is the fact is is, as things stand, the obvious replacement to take Scott Brown’s armband. As the vice-captain, it’s the natural order of things. He’s regularly been the stand-in captain when Brown has been out of the team. It’ll be a dream come true for him. So long as the new manager agrees with McGregor as his main leader of course.
Speaking of the new manager, there’s the final carrot. A chance to potentially work under one of Britain’s most exciting managers in Eddie Howe. Okay, so Howe hasn’t officially been announced, but it looks a done deal going by reports over the weekend [Scottish Sun].
There are so many reasons for McGregor to stay put. Judging by his comments last year, it will take a lot to prize him away from Scotland regardless.
In other news, we take a look at what irked John Kennedy last night and how he changed it.
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