Mackay is set to finally hand McGregor his Scots debut in Dutchfriendly

MALKY MACKAY last night confirmed he will give Callum McGregor a Scotland debut this week — three years and two months since Celtic’s Champions League scoring hero was first called into a senior squad.

McGregor, described by Mackay as the most improved player in the Scottish game, will finally be capped against Holland in Aberdeen in the first national team game following the departure of Gordon Strachan.

After a surprise inclusion in September 2014 for a Euro 2016 qualifier in Germany, the ex-Celtic manager repeatedly rejected McGregor’s claims until handing him a late call-up last month. The 24-year-old played no part in that final World Cup double-header against Slovakia and Slovenia.

Mackay, however, revealed he’s been sold on McGregor’s big-game mentality by Brendan Rodgers and is now ready to blood him in a fixture being treated by the caretaker coach as the first stepping stone towards Euro 2020.

Mackay said: ‘Callum, you can assume, will see a Scotland shirt next week.

‘You talk about improvement in players and I love to see it. Callum McGregor probably is the most improved player in Scotland in the last 18 months, probably since Brendan Rodgers went in there.

‘I’ve felt it myself in my career. When you have a manager who believes in you and a manager you can learn from, you surprise yourself sometimes with your performances. Having been there myself, there could’ve been a point where you are a kind of fringe Celtic player as a youngster coming through.

‘You are dipping in and out. You are part of it, in the squads, you train with the first team every day. Do you then get a run of games or do you not? Callum was certainly one of that group.

‘But in the last 18 months he has seriously kicked on.’

McGregor, one of eight uncapped players in Mackay’s squad for the Thursday night friendly, scored his seventh goal of the season against Bayern

Munich last week and was hailed as ‘exceptional’ by his club boss.

Mackay took in the Bayern game then chatted with his former Watford colleague Rodgers about McGregor, who is one of seven Celtic stars — including on-loan Aberdeen attacker Ryan Christie — in the pool for Pittodrie.

‘Brendan talked about how Callum can handle big games,’ said Mackay. ‘He goes into games — whether it’s a Premiership match, a cup game or a Champions League game — and he’s the same.

‘That’s a skill. Because that’s something that people can get panicky about. It’s normal, being flustered playing against the best. But Callum has a calmness about him. He’s obviously got a great touch on the ball.

‘I learned about his stats. When someone like Scott Sinclair runs 30, 40 yards with the ball and is breaking and (Moussa) Dembele is in the box, the only other one with them is Callum McGregor.

‘So I am having that. And I’m having the fact that, for the last year and a half, we’ve someone who maybe had a look at where his career was going and thought: “I am going to grab this because I’ve got a great chance here”. I want as many of those characters in the squad as possible.’

Meanwhile, Mackay will not deploy McGregor’s team-mate Kieran Tierney at right-back.

The 20-year-old flipped flanks to accommodate Andrew Robertson in his last four World Cup qualifiers.

‘We’ve got to get both of them in the team — and I will get both of them in the team,’ stated Mackay. ‘They are two of our best players.

‘I watched Kieran and he was sensational again in Europe. You can see he’s growing week on week and becoming a leader.

‘Something I’m not looking to do is play him at right-back. The two options are one in front of the other on the left or Kieran as a left-sided centre half. There aren’t many others.’