Former Celtic player Scott McDonald was speaking on the PLZ Football podcast regarding his former side as they look set to miss out on a tenth consecutive Scottish Premiership title.
McDonald was questioned on Celtic’s future given they parted ways with their manager Neil Lennon just last week and the former-Bhoys midfielder believes key players could leave this summer.
However, he does believe midfielder Callum McGregor will want to remain at the Hoops for next season as he views the 27-year-old, who is valued at £5.85 million (as per Transfermarkt), as Scott Brown’s successor.
The midfielder has made 31 appearances for Celtic in the league this season and McDonald suggests he is the player which will wear the armband once Scott Brown retires.
He said: “I think McGregor will probably want to stay in and be seen as the natural guy that will go in now as a captain and replace Scott Brown longer term, but people are going to try and you know, turn his head as well?”
“I think there will be, I think they will because he’s a fantastic footballer.
“So all Celtic’s bigger players are probably going to, you know, agents are going to be trying to turn their head in the summer. There’s no question of that. It’s whether, well, it’s just a matter of Celtic picking and choosing which ones are right to stay in which ones aren’t.”
Should McGregor replace Brown as captain?
Yes
No
TIF’s thoughts on Scott McDonald’s comments…
McDonald’s clearly thinks very highly of McGregor to suggest he is the best candidate to take the armband off Brown when he retires, however, will McGregor want to stay at Celtic if he sees some of their best players depart this summer?
The captaincy at Celtic is a huge honour for a player and it could prove enough to see McGregor stay, but he may want to see other star players kept at the club as they look to battle it out with Rangers next season.