Callum McGregor firmly believes if the Celtic board backs Brendan Rodgers in the transfer market then more exciting times will lie ahead for the club.

The 31-year-old skippered the men in green and white to the League and Scottish Cup double last season and he reckons that Rodgers' team are in a good place as we approach the 2024/25 flag day curtain raiser against Kilmarnock at Parkhead on Sunday.

Celtic have yet to sign an outfield player to bolster their ranks ahead of the new campaign with two goalkeepers Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo the only new arrivals at the club this summer. The Scotland midfielder insists that patience is a virtue in these situations at times.

McGregor said: "It’s a new season and a new challenge. If we can get what the manager is talking about in terms of the squad depth, it puts us in a really good place. The key thing is we continue to work as hard as we can.

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“There’s no point in bringing in quality and then you go off the boil, in terms of being a team that wants to work and be aggressive. If we can combine those two things, it can be an exciting year.

"That's the one thing we are always asking the club to bring us quality players so that the squad is as strong as it possibly can be. That means the competition goes up, the training levels go up and that is how you are successful.

"Every squad up and down the country is saying the same thing. You can go out and get loads and loads of players but the only thing that helps you is the players that get on the pitch and who have the quality to come in and help us.

"We have to have a little bit of patience and trust the guys that are in those positions to do the job. That is why they are in those positions at the club. Patience is the hardest thing for anybody in football. Everybody wants everything at the drop of a hat and sometimes you have to bide your time and be patient and trust the process. That is where we are as a club at the minute and the players know there are quality players to come in."

McGregor is acutely aware the Celtic team at this moment in time is technically weaker with Paulo Bernardo and Adam Idah having left the club at the end of the season. Both players remain high on the club's radar with Portuguese media claiming Bernardo is already a done deal and Idah still hovering around the Celtic players' group chat.

Idah took to the official Celtic FC Instagram to send a love heart emoji after the club rounded off their highly successful Stateside tour with a 4-1 hammering of English Premier League side Chelsea following on from a 4-3 victory over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and a 4-0 success over MLS outfit DC United.

McGregor would welcome the Norwich City and Republic of Ireland striker back with open arms.

He said: "I think he (Adam Idah) is still on the Celtic players' group chat. I don't keep on top of stuff like that. I probably should.

"He sent his love on the back of last season and you saw his response after the Chelsea game. The social media games are there for everybody to see.

"Adam is certainly making all the right noises that he wants to come back and for us, he was a hugely important player in the second half of the season. If we can get him and it works for everybody we would be delighted to get him back."

(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group)

Meanwhile, McGregor revealed that he pays no attention to what is happening on the other side of the city despite being told many times in his Celtic career that Rangers are coming.

The Ibrox men do not have their troubles to seek right now but McGregor couldn't care less about what Phillipe Clement's men are up to.

He said: "I’ve been in this spot long enough to know you have to concentrate on yourself. The minute you lift your head and look elsewhere, that’s when it goes wrong. We have a lot of work needing to be done and the way the team functions, we have enough things to be going on without looking elsewhere.

“Is it wearing the blinkers? That’s all you can do. All you can focus is on trying to make it the best possible club we can. We don’t take much notice of anything going on outside of our own building.

“I don’t think it does you any good, whatever the stories are elsewhere. Even when people thought there were problems at our place, we didn't take any notice.

“The only thing that is real and that you can control is in your own building. If can we keep that single-minded approach and try to get the maximum out of the players we have as well as the staff, and everybody working together to create that winning culture, then the only team that can stop us is us.

“We have the power to control as much as we can control. That remains the same message – we don’t look at what anyone else is doing. The manager has had such a good, long career and he displays calmness in those moments.

"When things are maybe chaotic, he sees the bigger picture and keeps everyone calm to understand it’s the football bit that can fix everything. As long as you can see that, you can see the answers to the questions. He’s probably the best I’ve seen in terms of staying calm in pressure situations.”