Callum McGregor has shut down exit talk for now, but he has also made the standards clear. He says Celtic must keep winning and do it with more style, with the season opener against Dundee on Monday, 19:30 BST, set to mark his 13th professional season at the club.
McGregor's message on future and standards
McGregor's own words leave little room for doubt. "This is the football club that has been part of my whole life. It's where I want to be, it's where I want to play football," he said.
He was just as direct about what comes next. "So as long as the club want me there and as long as the club's ambition matches my own, in terms of playing any the highest level. So we have to continue to push and be as good as we can possibly be. I don't want to sit here and be a Celtic captain who's not winning anything," McGregor told dailyrecord.co.uk.
That sits neatly alongside the other line he gave BBC Sport: "This season hopefully we can do it in a bit more style, the way that we're used to."
The football context is not hard to find. Celtic chased down Hearts to win the Scottish Premiership on the final day last season before beating Dunfermline Athletic at Hampden to claim the Scottish Cup. They also failed to reach the Champions League after defeat to Kairat Almaty, which keeps the August play-off route relevant rather than hypothetical.
The form line is tidy enough, too. Celtic have won their last five listed matches, while McGregor has played 450 minutes across those five and averaged a 6.84 rating. He has only one goal involvement in that spell, which fits his point about control and standards rather than headline numbers.
The summer rebuild has given him more reason to stay engaged. Celtic have brought in Camilo Duran and club-record signing Kasper Hogh to bolster the forward line, and Hogh has scored 5 goals in his last 5 matches. That is the sort of finishing form Celtic wanted when they moved to strengthen.
McGregor's position is fairly clear. He is not sounding like a player looking for the door, and he is not sounding satisfied either. He wants Celtic to keep winning, but he wants the football to look closer to the standard he expects from the club. Monday's opener against Dundee is the first chance to show that shift on the pitch.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
