CALLUM McGregor has hailed his former Celtic team mate Jonny Hayes for agreeing to play for Aberdeen for free next season and admitted the Scottish champions will need to be on their guard when they face the winger next season.
Hayes left Parkhead after helping the Glasgow club to win their last three Premiership titles when his contract expired at the end of last month and has since returned to Pittodrie.
The Republic of Ireland internationalist, who has signed a two year deal with the Dons, has agreed to defer his wages for a year because of the impact of the coronavirus crisis.
Scotland midfielder McGregor is unsurprised that the versatile player has found himself another club and that he is prepared to play for nothing for Derek McInnes's men in the 2020/21 campaign.
“He’s a great character who was well liked about the place," he said. "Jonny is so reliable, you could hang your hat on him, which is exactly what you want in a teammate.
“It was brilliant to see him get sorted so quickly. I thought he would as he’s a top player, but there’s so much uncertainty right now.
“It’s great for him to get his future sorted so soon and everyone at Celtic wishes him all the best.
“It’s an amazing gesture from Jonny Hayes (playing for free). It just shows he’s desperate to play football and is back at a club he has an affinity with.
“It’s great that it’s worked out. It maybe needed that kind of gesture to get it over a line and it speaks volumes about his character.”
Aberdeen were Celtic's nearest challengers when Hayes played for them before and McGregor believes the north-east club will benefit from his return.
He added: “We’ll need to keep tabs on him when we play Aberdeen. Training with him every day for three years, we know what he can bring to the table.
“We wish him all the best for the season, but when we come up against him we’ll be hoping he has an off day."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel