McGregor can’t wait to fight for his place
Turnbull will increase competition for places, says midfielder
NORMALLY, a player at any club wouldn’t particularly welcome the arrival of another player of a similar style, particularly one as promising as young Motherwell midfielder David Turnbull. Then again, not every player is as integral to his team as Callum McGregor is to Celtic.
McGregor was willing to give his tuppence worth on the abilities of the 21-year-old yesterday, with Celtic hoping to add him to their squad before too long in a deal worth up to £3m once add-ons have been taken into account, and he is excited by the prospect of what Turnbull could bring to the party.
Truth is, he sees a lot of himself in the playmaker, and it is surely a feather in the cap of the Fir Park product that McGregor believes he could make a valuable contribution to the Celtic midfield.
“I think he’s been excellent,” McGregor said. “Obviously Celtic have been monitoring him for a while and he’s a top young player, so I think it’d be good if we could get him in.
“It would be another face and competition for the boys as well and that always drives the standard on. His style of play is similar to myself. You want to do everything in the game and chip in with goals and assists as well.
“So, he is definitely a young, exciting talent and all the right noises are coming from everywhere. Everybody likes him, he’s a good kid as well and to get him in would be good for Celtic.
“It is the same every year when boys come in, whether they are midfielders, attackers, defenders, it always helps the squad and so it will drive the standards up.
“Celtic are always looking to get better and then you know you have to get better as well”.
McGregor is certainly hoping to fare better tonight in Celtic’s Champions League qualifier against Ferencvaros than he and his team-mates did when their bid to reach the group stages came a cropper against Cluj last season.
Deployed at left-back, McGregor and the entire backline had a night to forget, shipping four goals on home turf to be skittled out of the competition.
He is banking on the painful lessons of that night, though, to help Celtic through against the Hungarian champions this evening.
“It’s important that you always learn from nights like that,” he said. “It’s important that we remember that feeling on Wednesday night, we don’t want to be feeling like that again.
“Those experiences are
His style of play is similar to myself. He’s a good kid
always good if you learn from them and take things from them, so hopefully that will stand us in good stead. We have to have that hunger and desire to show the will to win, perform well on the night, and hopefully get that wee bit of luck you need in these games as well.
“It was obviously hugely disappointing that they came to Celtic Park and scored four. We know that we can’t be that open in these games.
“The overriding feeling was one of huge disappointment. I thought we played well enough in the game on the night to win it. It was a bit of a strange night in terms of the goals we conceded as well.
“There’s a wee reminder in there that you need a bit of luck on these nights. It was a crazy night of football.
“You take those experiences, and if you can learn from then you can do better the following year and in years to come.
“Hopefully that’s a lesson we’ve learned.”
Of course, that greatest of Celtic allies on European nights – a sold-out Celtic Park crowd – will not be in attendance this evening, but McGregor says the players can’t allow the lack of atmosphere to be a hindrance, or an excuse.
“It can be difficult at times,” he admitted. “You are so used to playing in front of the crowd, and they give you the atmosphere to go and play.
“But I think it is important for the players and club and the management that we try to create our own atmosphere, and play them as if it were in a full house.”