THERE IS a meme, famous in the corner of Twitter occupied by football nerds, which pokes fun at the indifferent attitude generally displayed towards players who neither heroically score or prevent goals.

It’s a knowing, cheeky defence of the central midfielder. Despite not often making the final contribution they, of course, do make a vital difference in football matches. Callum McGregor is the personification of this meme and goes way beyond merely making a difference - he’s the best all-rounder in Scotland, Celtic’s player of the season and, worryingly, a near-irreplaceable unicorn.

McGregor, despite his Zorro-like mask and habit of scanning his surroundings more frequently than a bank-job getaway driver, isn’t considered cool and dangerous like Jota. He may have adapted to a different role and been almost ever-present but he isn’t viewed as shiny and new, important and unparalleled like Cameron Carter-Vickers. He certainly doesn’t stop goals (grrr!) like Joe Hart, or score goals (woohoo!) like Kyogo Furuhashi. However, he is singularly vital for Ange Postecoglou’s tactical setup. 

Celtic Way:

In modern football, McGregor’s role as the deepest midfielder in a 4-3-3 is often described as a single pivot but that’s a bit of a misnomer in his case. Pivots tend to be a fixed point around which a mechanism turns but the Celtic captain is rarely static.

When the Hoops have possession of the ball and shift to a 2-3-2-3 shape McGregor may be in the centre but he’s usually mobile and prompting, facilitating and conducting the movement of the rest of the system. He’ll pull markers infield so that Carter-Vickers or Carl Starfelt can laser a pass to a winger on the touchline, drop a yard or two and motion for an inverted full-back such as Josip Juranović or Greg Taylor to advance into the gap he’s created or pop up as a passing option for Tom Rogic, Reo Hatate or one of the other attacking midfielders. 

Celtic Way:

His movement is purposeful and aims to progress the team efficiently up the pitch. Although McGregor is significantly involved in Celtic’s play he is making about five fewer passes per match than last season as the team shift to a swifter style of build-up.

When Scott Brown played this role for Celtic in recent seasons he tended to drop between the central defenders into the backline, ostensibly to help them bypass the press. This tended to slow the team down unnecessarily. McGregor himself, similarly, often used to drop into the left-back space in order to aid ball progression. Both of these patterns are used very rarely under Postecoglou and, instead, the 6 is expected to remain within the midfield during the early stages of possession. 

Despite these tactical instructions, there is clearly a high degree of autonomy at play. Another term often used for a deep playmaker in football is metronome but, as it suggests keeping to a regular beat, this too is somewhat of a misnomer for McGregor in 2021-22. 

Celtic Way:

Postecoglou clearly trusts him to lead the team on the pitch and make smart decisions in the moment. McGregor’s instinctive, aggressive dribbling in the right half-space which led to Rogic’s equaliser against Rangers a fortnight ago was a great example of his ability to do the extraordinary. 

READ MORE: Why Greg Taylor is thriving under Ange Postecoglou

This is a special player. He makes the most passes and dribbles into the final third of any player in the league, is dribbled past the least often of any midfielder, completes the highest percentage of passes when under pressure, makes six recoveries of the ball in the opposition half every match and also puts up 0.16 open play expected assists per 90 minutes. An incredibly rounded and impactful skillset. 

Celtic Way:

However, McGregor’s most important quality might just be his availability. Although Postecoglou has substituted him near the end of several recent matches the Celtic captain has played the full 90 minutes of 33 games under the Australian, including a stretch of 12 league fixtures in a row back in Autumn 2021. He’s on track to exceed 45 competitive club appearances in a season for the sixth campaign in a row. In 2018-19 he actually played over 5,000 minutes in the Hoops. Season after season McGregor has been there for the team.

His rare absences are felt keenly - a spell on the sidelines last September coincided with disappointing defeats to Real Betis and Livingston as well as a limp draw with Dundee United. Simply being available to play with such dependable regularity is hugely valuable in a footballer and is another reason why McGregor should be player of the season.

He has also been an admirable captain. His style of quiet leadership contrasts with that of his predecessor, Brown, but may be a better fit for modern football and multinational Generation Z players. 

Celtic Way:

Recruitment under Postecoglou has been a resounding success but the rebuild is still a work in progress at Celtic Park. A left-back, a left-footed central defender, a right winger and a goalkeeper are all on the scouting agenda but, as he will be 29 next season and has played so much football, a suitable backup and heir to McGregor must be in the club’s plans.

Yosuke Ideguchi might be that player but needs the game-time to show it. James McCarthy, given his age and injury track record, won’t be. Kenzie Carse, an 18-year-old who plays the same role for Celtic B, will need a loan at a higher level than the Scottish Lowland Football League in order to show if he could be. 

The club will be searching for a player who is rarely unavailable to play, has excellent movement, can prevent counter-attacks by fouling and intercepting, doesn’t lose possession, can move the ball into the final third and can create chances. Tweaks to the system, such as asking the full-backs to do more of the ball progression or the attacking midfielders to intercept frequently, could compensate for the absence of some of these attributes within one individual but this is a big recruitment task for the near future.

For now though McGregor should be celebrated. Pep Guardiola, himself a pretty reasonable midfielder, once said: “What is important for a holding midfielder is to be always stable: seven..eight…seven…eight out of 10. It’s not nice to have a big 10 out of 10 performance (one week) and then a two or three (the next). Maybe wingers or strikers can do that but for a holding midfielder it’s not good.”  

The Manchester City manager, while correct to pinpoint stability as vital in this role, is low-balling the mark. The importance of McGregor to the success of this Celtic side should not be understated - his season has been a 10.