CALLUM McGREGOR believes new Bhoy Scott Sinclair can be Celtic’s Champions League secret weapon.
The Hoops midfielder admitted he has been hugely impressed by the 27-year-old winger who arrived from Aston Villa at the weekend – and has played only two hours for the club.
Sinclair rattled in the winner against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday after coming on a substitute in the 61st minute for Stuart Armstrong. .
And he played the entire 90 minutes of the 5-0 League Cup mauling of Motherwell in midweek where he added another sublime strike.
McGregor insists the Englishman, who could cost the champions up to £4.5million with add-ons, will be a key player in the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Israeli title winners Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Glasgow on Wednesday.
He said: “Scott has been brilliant. He gets the ball moving so quickly and that gets us all moving forward.
“I reckon he is definitely the kind of guy we can look to make a difference when it gets to the qualifier next week because he just has that sharpness, even though he isn’t properly matchfit yet.”
McGregor also warned Scottish football that the rousing five-goal performance against Mark McGhee’s Fir Parkers – walloped 7-0 on the same ground at the end of the last campaign – is just an indication of what is to come from Brendan Rodgers’ team as the season unfolds.
He said: “I am sure we have raised a few eyebrows with the way we are playing and that is just it – that’s the way we are going to be looking to play every week. That was a marker against Motherwell.
“Ever since the manager walked in the door this summer, he made it clear there was a way he wanted us to be playing and we have been moving towards that throughout pre-season.
“We are starting to see the results of that now.
“It is actually a joy to play in. You can feel the confidence within the team and you can sense the belief that we have got.
“We want to be going out and blowing teams away this season, especially when we get them here.”
McGregor, 23, admitted it will be a weekly fight to try to keep a place in the team, especially with fellow-midfielders Tom Rogic and James Forrest penning three-year extensions this week.
He said: “The manager stressed to us in pre-season we needed not just a big squad, but a strong squad, with players able to come in and offer a certain level of intensity within games.
“I am always happy to see new players coming to the club when they obviously make us a better team and having James and Tom commit here was good news, as well.
“I was pleased with my part in Tom’s first goal, but, to be fair, he kind of overshadowed me the way he finished it!
“But I feel as though we are really moving towards playing the kind of football the manager wants us to play and, like everyone else, I want to be in there and be involved.
“We are greedy. We want everything this season. We want to win everything we can and I want to be part of it.”
