The phrase ‘have boots, will travel,’ could have been coined for Callum McGregor.
For years now the Celtic skipper has been dubbed the Battery Bhoy who keeps Hoops ticking through his incredible energy levels and desire to play football.
The midfielder’s remarkable ‘numbers’, as they like to say in football speak, hit such a peak not so long ago that there wasn’t a single player in all of Europe’s top leagues who could match his minutes on the park.
Those numbers just keep piling up for the 28-year-old who remains the heartbeat for club and country as both head into an electrifying few months.
Even if it takes a bespoke mask to protect a fractured cheekbone, there’s seems to be nothing that can quell McGregor’s hunger to play the beautiful game.
Be it St Mirren or Sydney, Kilmarnock or Qatar, then McGregor will want to be there. The kitbag will be packed, the passport will be looked out and the only doubt will be which departure gate he’ll be using.
That’s the scenario which will face McGregor come November when the Premiership goes into hibernation for a month and the Hoops head Down Under.
Only, for once, McGregor would rather not be there leading the Hoops from the front.
Not that Captain marvel wants a rest or has anything against the trip to compete in the Sydney Super Cup along with Rangers, Sydney FC and Wester Sydney Wanderers - controversial as it may be.
No, while sections of the Hoops support have vented their fury at the plans to compete in the competition and thus take the Old Firm derby to the other side of the planet, McGregor is fully on board with the “exciting” idea.
It’s just that he hopes that come November time he is half the world away - 7500 miles to be precise - from Sydney in another red hot footballing theatre.
It’s the World Cup in Qatar that is top of the desirable destinations for 2022 for the midfielder as he looks to tick off another box on an extraordinary career.
He said: “Hopefully with the games that come around we are successful and reach the World Cup. That would be an amazing achievement as a young Scottish player to play and represent your country at a World Cup.
“There wouldn’t be a better feeling than that.
“For the club the Sydney Super Cup is also a great opportunity for us to maximise our commercial appeal.
“The manager and guys like Tom Rogic have a huge fanbase in Australia. So that’s a really exciting prospect for the club as well.
“But wherever I am come November and December, I’ll be looking forward to either one.”
He means it too. It’s a game of football after all.
McGregor insists any player wanting to be successful should be prepared to pull on the boots 60 times a season.
That record campaign in 2018/19 he powered through a lung-busting 69 for Celtic and Scotland. Now, having been rewarded for that inspirational ability to lead by example with the captain’s armband, he is on course to smash the 60 barrier again.
McGregor is already on 49 appearances as the current season picks up pace into its business end.
With seven league games including defining home and away clashes with Rangers remaining on top of a Scottish Cup semi final against their arch rivals it’s all systems go at Celtic Park. Throw in the forthcoming Scotland friendlies against Poland and either Austria or Wales and June’s massive play-off and he’s well past the 60 mark.
McGregor would take fixture congestion every day of the week - probably literally - if it simply meant making him a better player.
As the title race heads into a final straight Rangers face an extra two games in April due to their continued involvement in the Europa League.
But McGregor insists that can’t be used as an excuse should they come up short domestically.
He said: “That’s just part of football now. If you want to be a top footballer then you want to be involved in these things.
“You want to go to tournaments at the end of the season and play in as many European games as you can because it makes you a better player. Then when you come back you try and show it.”
McGregor has certainly shown it again as he drives Celtic into the closing stages of the title race with a three point advantage off the back of a 31-game domestic unbeaten run.
For the last 11 games he’s had to do it with the aid of his facial mask following that painful collision that left him with a cracked cheekbone in the Scottish Cup tie at Alloa.
His sights are clear though, set firmly on the title, even if he has no date for the mask to come off.
McGregor said: “I’m just trying to take it every day at a time. It’s been seven weeks and feels much better than it did previously.
“I will just see how I go and get to a point where I don’t need it.
“It’s been alright. It’s contoured to my face so the eye bits pretty much sit perfect on the eyes which takes out that peripheral problem.
“I was worried about that to begin with but I trained with it for a couple of days and was absolutely fine
“Probably the first game I take it off someone will bang me in the jaw. That’s sod’s law!”
