Let's start with a question: in his glittering Celtic career to date, how many times do you think Callum McGregor has won Player of the Month in Scotland's top flight?
Bear in mind this is a player who burst onto the scene with a debut goal in a 2014 UEFA Champions League qualifier at just 21 years of age. It's a player who's won 22 trophies in the last decade (so far); seven of which were clinched as Celtic's club captain.
In terms of personal accolades, McGregor was named Celtic's Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year during the 2018/19 campaign, and again as Player of the Year in 2021/22. At the end of the latter season, the Celtic youth academy graduate was also named as the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year.
Throw in well-earned places in the PFA Scotland Premiership Team of the Year in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024, and let's return to the question: how many times do you think Callum McGregor has won Player of the Month in Scotland's top flight?
The answer, despite all of this, is once. On Friday, September 13, 2024, McGregor was named SPFL Player of the Month for the very first time.
And while this feels like a pretty remarkable eventuality for such a decorated player, it likely speaks to a broader point regarding the Celtic captain's consistency. McGregor is always great, so high are the standards he sets himself year-in, year-out in Glasgow's east end – so much so, that the 31-year-old being outstanding in any given four-week period has become the norm.
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With three goals to his name amid a blistering start to the current campaign as captain, McGregor is flying. For the Celtic skipper, though, it's always a team effort – especially as the Parkhead side prepare for Hearts this afternoon in the Premiership, before turning their heads to their first UEFA Champions League encounter on Wednesday against Slovan Bratislava, and then hosting Falkirk in the Scottish League Cup one week from tomorrow.
"When you're here, especially when the Champions League rolls around, the expectation behind that as well, a home game us off, everybody's looking at that thinking can we maximise that game," said McGregor, "and then the momentum just builds and builds and builds.
"So for the players, obviously they're excited, but we need to be the guys with the calm heads, and the coaches come up with the game plans and we try to execute them. And it'll be exactly the same for every game that we've got coming this month as well."
Having retired from Scotland recently, McGregor split his time during the international break between a short holiday to Spain and training at Lennoxtown with some of the club's newest additions recruited during the transfer window.
Among those faces is 21-year-old Arne Engels, who, at a reported £11m, became the club's most expensive import in their history. McGregor is confident the Belgian internationalist will repay that value "in spades" once he gets going, but in the meantime he sees it as his job to ease the midfielder into life in Scotland as he gets to grips with his new surroundings.
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Whether or not Engels starts against Hearts this afternoon remains to be seen, but McGregor is certain he and his colleagues are fully-focused on securing three points come full-time. Only after that can they then turn their attention to Wednesday's flagship fixture.
"Our league performance, that's our bread and butter," McGregor said. "The league is what gets you the Champions League. If you start to neglect that then you don't have the glamour games, you don't have the Champions League ties and the money and everything that comes with that.
"The players understand this game against Hearts is as important, if not more important, in terms of where the club wants to be. We have to look after that first and foremost and then obviously when Wednesday comes around everybody can get excited and look forward to the game."
