There were six of them on Celtic's books until the deadline day. What were they?

Scottish players who feature in Celtic first-team squads regularly - Scott Bain, Greg Taylor, Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh, Callum McGregor and James Forrest.

The arrival of Luke McCowan from Dundee on transfer deadline day took the Scots contingent at the champions to a 'Magnificent 7'. McCowan's signing may not have been box office compared to the likes of the £11 million club record transfer capture of Belgian midfielder Arne Engels and £6 million American defender Auston Trusty, but it was an important one nonetheless.

Brendan Rodgers cherry-picked lifelong Celtic fan McCowan for a reason. Sure, McCowan ticks the homegrown box for Champions League squad purposes but his signing represented far more than that. The Irishman is well aware that Celtic still has to be a Scottish club that stays humble and true to its origins and roots. It's what gives Celtic its identity. Nobody represents Celtic like one of their own. The Celtic supporters love cheering on homegrown players.

It is in stark contrast to the lack of Scottish players featuring at the first-team level on the other side of the city. In Rangers starting lineups so far this season only John Souttar and Connor Barron are the only Scots who can count themselves as first-team regulars.

Liam Kelly, Leon King, Robbie Fraser, Cole McKinnon and Bailey Rice have all warned the bench with Fraser seeing a total of 23 minutes between them all thus far. Many feel that Rangers have lost their way and their identity because of the opportunity being denied homegrown Scottish players. That's a conundrum for Light Blues boss Phillipe Clement to sort out.

In the Glasgow Derby at Parkhead earlier this month, Celtic's Scottish players played a prominent part in Celtic's 3-0 triumph over the men from Govan. It was Taylor's crucial interception when he prevented Vaclav Cerny from reaching the ball and a sumptuous shunt to Kyogo Furuhashi that produced a superb killer second goal.

Captain McGregor was imperious as he scored the killer third from long range. Throw in a debut for McCowan with 13 minutes to go and a cameo 18-minute appearance from the evergreen Forrest then Rodgers has the perfect recipe and ingredients for success.

Rodgers knew exactly what he was doing when he recruited McCowan. He was signing the best Scottish talent around. Incidentally, there's another one in Lennon Miller at Motherwell. No doubt Celtic should or will be conducting their due diligence on him as we speak. That's why it would be churlish of the Celtic fans to judge McCowan on his price tag alone.

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McCowan may have gotten to Celtic via a circuitous route. He's here now. He has done the hard yards firstly at Somerset Park with Ayr United and secondly at Dens Park with Dundee. It didn't matter that McCowan was 26. Rodgers saw a footballer. A bloody good one at that. One who could fit seamlessly into the Celtic Way. One who is reaching the peak of his powers.

The lifelong Celtic fan is living the dream and his smile lit up Celtic Park yesterday as he put the seal on the deal by notching his first goal in green and white in the 2-0 Scottish Premiership win against Hearts.

It is a dream come true for McCowan and a moment that he will have thought about all of his life. It is a career-defining moment for him. One that he will never forget and that nobody can ever take away from him.

As Rodgers said: "Celtic won't be the end game for some of these players, but it's going to give them so much. When you leave here you are a winner, a better footballer and ready to play for any team in the world. It's the model of the club. Callum (McGregor), James (Forrest) these guys, they love being here; they’ve had opportunities to move, but have stayed happy in Scotland. They’re happy playing for Celtic and happy winning trophies."

(Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group)

Celtic will be the end game for McCowan. He will finish his career at Celtic. He is delighted at that prospect. He's been actively encouraged to celebrate and shout that fact from the rooftops... by none other than Rodgers himself. As McCowan confessed when he addressed the media earlier this week and spoke about what the manager wanted from him.

McCowan said: "There were no conversations about long-term stuff. It was just about how you can affect things just now. I think that's the main thing. Staying in the present when you approach anything about the game. He was dead calm when he spoke to me. He said certain areas of my game need work.

"Coming here it is a different style of football. As you can imagine with any new player going to a new club it is about bedding yourself in. The main thing is to stay myself, stay as loud as you can because I've always been loud.

"Just be yourself and be a bit of a sponge and learn from all of these great players and top professionals that you are playing alongside like Callum McGregor and James Forrest who have been here for so long. All I can do is learn from them and push forward and that was the manager's message as well. It has been nothing but helpful."

It was interesting that McCowan namechecked McGregor and Forrest. They were the two same players mentioned by Rodgers. The one-club men who have been content with their lot and stayed happy playing for Celtic and winning trophies.

The common denominator - they're both Scottish.

It seems very twee and contrived to say that McGregor and Forrest in Celtic terms 'get it' but they do. McCowan also gets it. He's Scottish. He's a Celtic diehard. He wants to become an invaluable member of the Celtic first-team moving forward under Rodgers. He wants to be like them. He is going to take it all in and act just like McGregor and Forrest as well as Taylor, Ralston, Welsh and Bain.

In another enlightening comment, McCowan gave a unique insight into his own mindset having signed for Celtic. McCowan said: "Callum is the captain but there are so many captains in that dressing room who don't wear the armband. All the boys have been amazing. There is the Scottish link there too and he (Callum) has been brilliant.

"The coaches do the same too. They have given me a load of advice and everybody just chips in. Watching Callum in training and seeing his standards every day is amazing. As well as he shows up on a Saturday, he shows up on a Monday morning too and he does well. It's been immense. He is the guy I want to learn from. I want to use him as the image to try and get there."

The Scottish link. Almost immediately McCowan has migrated to the Scottish players in the dressing room. Players with a big voice. McGregor, Forrest, Taylor, Ralston, Welsh and Bain. All big presences in the Celtic dressing room. All Scottish players. They have all had a wonderful and galvanising effect on Celtic's recent domestic success which shows no sign of abating. Rodgers loves the Scottish core running through the team. It's the beating heart of Celtic. It's important to him. It gives the club a true identity. 

McCowan admitted his wish was to become an image of McGregor. If so then he's already going about his business in the right way. He said all the right things when it came to achieving his lifelong career ambition, his family life being turned upside down, and the healthy respect he had for his teammates, manager and Celtic coaches alike.

It was all delivered with dignity and class and with a little bit of self-deprecatory humour thrown in for good measure. It was also refreshing to see a Scottish boy take centre stage at a big club like Celtic and take it all in his stride. McCowan gave a masterclass in dealing with the media. Remember Rodgers doesn't sign good players he also signs good people.

Forgive me for saying but I think the impetuosity of youth, and I'm stretching that phrase a bit to be fair, might have got the better of him in terms of McCowan's Celtic nickname. It surely has to be 'The Sponge'. He absorbs everything. 

If the 'Sponge' lives up to his name then McCowan will go on to be one of the go-to guys at the club just like McGregor and Forrest. In years to come maybe it will be McCowan who helps all the new signings settle in at Celtic. Maybe McCowan will become an invaluable member of the Scottish contingent at the club moving forward. Maybe McCowan will become part and parcel of the club's fabric and an integral part of the Scottish identity at Celtic.

Former Dundee assistant Dave Mackay spoke exclusively to The Celtic Way last week and insisted that McCowan would be the surprise package of them all.

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Mackay said: "Luke McCowan's peak years are ahead of him. This is not a kid coming in as he's amassed a lot of Scottish Premiership experience with Dundee. He does not need to be developed as he is coming into the best years of his career.

"He can score goals, he can create goals, he has the mobility to get around the pitch, technically he is very good and he is a clever footballer.

"He can play those intricate passes and I genuinely believe that given time he will force his way into Celtic's starting XI or he will play a large part in most of the games. I think he will play a lot of games for Celtic and he will make a big impact.

"He has the quality to go and stamp his authority on games. He will also be playing under a first-class manager in Rodgers and he will improve him. Luke will surprise people, I am telling you right now. Whilst £1 million is pennies for Celtic they will benefit greatly from this signing as it is a great piece of business by the club."

Here's a thing, if we class the 1960s onwards as being the modern-day era of the game then since 1963 except for Neil Francis Lennon every Celtic captain has been a Scotsman.

Remember also that it was McGregor who dished out this wonderful piece of leadership advice to McCowan before he made his debut against Rangers last Sunday.

As McGregor revealed: "I just said to him, 'Go and play', you've got massive quality, just go and run about. I'll be with you. So let's just go."

From one Scotsman to another: "I'll be with you."

You get the feeling that of all the advice McCowan 'The Sponge' has chosen to absorb lately it would have been that. If McCowan does go on to be a player moulded in the same 'image' as McGregor then maybe that's the sage advice he'll one day dish out to another Scotsman whilst wearing the skipper's armband in the process as he gets set to make his Celtic debut.

Lennon Miller anyone? That's a wonderful thought, isn't it?

In terms of succession planning maybe that's what Rodgers has in mind for 'The Sponge' all along as McGregor isn't going to last forever. McCowan like McGregor could well go on to become the midfield fulcrum of the Celtic team. The embodiment of Celtic. The Scotsman who the supporters easily identify with.

As Rodgers said after McCowan's goal against Hearts at the weekend: "It's great. Any player playing for their boyhood team and to come on and he is still adapting a lot to the speed and tempo of the game.

"He will never lay down whether he starts the game or comes into the game and I think for a young guy who is a Celtic supporter, it is his absolute dream to be here, you can sense it in him every single day. To then actually score at Celtic Park and get that feeling from the supporters is brilliant for him. The supporters recognise it as well. I am so happy for him."

Whatever it is Celtic's pursuit and purchase of McCowan in the transfer window by Rodgers is far more important than anybody thinks.

Retaining a Scottish core and sense of identity at the heart of Celtic? Rodgers is all over it, especially at a time when their city rivals seem to have lost theirs.