Callum McGregor may be out for a period of time, revealed Celtic manager Martin O’Neill after Sunday’s game.
The captain has played 29 matches in the Scottish Premiership for Celtic this season but missed out on the Scottish Cup quarter-final victory at Ibrox, where teammates like Julian Araujo impressed. Originally, it was thought to be just a rotation, but as it turns out, he may be set for a period on the sidelines.
Speaking post-match about McGregor, O’Neill said:
“I think that [winning without McGregor] shouldn’t be overlooked. He was feeling it in Aberdeen. I think the medical team were saying it’s something that was here last year and maybe has come back.
So the best thing to do was just to take him out of it. We would just have to have a look. Before the game, it was a major loss.”
According to The Scotsman, McGregor is set to be out after the resurgence of a calf injury that caused him to miss three games last season.
Hopefully, it won’t affect him too much, and he’ll be able to return to the pitch in no time.
Plenty of midfield options, but no one can replace the skipper
Celtic have plenty of midfield options to choose from, but none offer the Hoops experience of McGregor. The options consist of Luke McCowan, Reo Hatate, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Benjamin Nygren, and Paulo Bernardo. All have featured in some capacity this season, and it seems likely that our midfield three would consist of Hatate, the Ox and Nygren.
Oxlade-Chamberlain missed out on a start against the Gers this time out after being hooked at half-time in the league match at Ibrox. He didn’t impress, but his other performances for Celtic since he joined as a free agent on deadline day have shown promising signs.
With the midfielder only being on a six-month contract, he’ll want to impress and potentially win an extension. He offers experience from his years of featuring for Liverpool in the English Premier League, and he’s a player that O’Neill could look to should McGregor be out.
According to reports, the captain will be out for a “period of time”, which is up for interpretation. It doesn’t seem as though O’Neill or anyone at the club even knows yet, so it’ll be interesting to hear the news when they finally figure out the extent of the injury.
Arne Engels remains out with an injury, and his return date is also unknown. Hopefully, we can get both of them back before the post-split games that could decide the Scottish Premiership title.