Any player looking to replace Callum McGregor at Celtic must arrive at Parkhead wielding, to quote Liam Neeson in Taken, a ‘very particular set of skills’.
McGregor is not only one of the first names on Ange Postecoglou’s team sheet. He is also the man who makes this Rolex of a team tick. Their string-pulling metronome from his deep-lying role. The man who not only captains Celtic, but acts as something akin to Postecoglou’s on-pitch representative. The man who acts as the conduit for the Hoops’ possession-heavy gameplan, while never shirking his defensive responsibilities.
With Callum McGregor’s 30th birthday approaching, and with a knee injury before the Qatar World Cup highlighting the lack of suitable replacements currently at Postecoglou’s disposal, reports linking Ardon Jashari with a summer move to Parkhead may perhaps hint at a succession plan being drawn up as McGregor edges closer to the autumn of an awesome green-and-white clear.
Can Celtic find a new Callum McGregor?
Jashari, at 20 years of age, is nearly a decade the Scot’s junior. He, like McGregor, captains his side; taking the armband at FC Luzern despite only being a first-team player for two-and-a-half seasons.
Jashari often starts at the base of Luzern’s midfield, and excels at controlling the game from deep.
He’s supremely intelligent on and off the ball. Terrific when negating an opposition press, he rarely dodges a challenge, and loves probing passes into the final third. Like McGregor, he does much of his best work with his left foot too. Thereby, adding a real balance to the build-up.
“For me, Jashari is the greatest talent in Switzerland,” Luzern coach Mario Frick says of the tireless skipper. “He’s really good. I think this role (as one of the club’s captains) gives him an extra push.”
Ardon Jashari could cost Celtic £7m
Comparisons with Borussia Dortmund’s seemingly Real Madrid-bound superstar Jude Bellingham, meanwhile, highlight not only Jashari’s vast potential but his wide-ranging skillset. Like Bellingham, and McGregor for that matter, he possesses almost every attribute you could possibly want from a central midfielder. Even if he could stand to add more goals to his game.
According to Blick, Jashari is ‘likely’ to leave Luzern this summer. Celtic are near the front of the queue, and could free up funds to meet his £7 million asking price by selling a number unwanted players. Vasilis Barkas, Ismaila Soro, James McCarthy and Albian Ajeti, for instance.
McGregor, at 29, still has plenty of juice left in the tank. But Jashari, while initially acting as an understudy to one of Celtic’s most decorated players, certainly has the attributes and the personality required to step into his shoes somewhere down the line.
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