CALLUM McGREGOR is celebrating his 27th birthday today (June 14), but he’s already received the best present he could have hoped for earlier this week with a return to training at Lennoxtown.

The Celtic squad are back on the pitches at the club’s training centre, albeit they’re still working on their own. But just being able to see some of their team-mates and also get a feel for the ball has been a great boost for Neil Lennon’s players.

And while he has a day off, which coincides with his birthday, McGregor is already looking forward to tomorrow and another day of training.

“Normally I’m pretty much off for the off-season for my birthday, so it’s fallen quite nicely that I’m off this time as well,” the midfielder told Celtic TV.

“We were talking about it this week - Jamesy’s turning 29 in a few weeks’ time and I’m turning 27. It wasn’t too long ago that we were the younger guys in the squad, so it just shows you that time and your career just flies so quickly, and you need to enjoy every minute of it, which I’m sure that we’ve done.

“Things have relaxed slightly, so it’ll be good to see my family and celebrate a little bit, but now that the football’s back on, I’m already starting to think about the season. But it’ll be a nice day, a nice afternoon and hopefully we’ll have a bit of good weather too.”

Since making his first-team debut back in July 2014, when he scored the only goal in an away win over KR Reykjavik, McGregor has established himself as a mainstay of the Celtic first-team, with 275 appearances and 49 goals to his name.

He’s also won six league titles, four League Cups and three Scottish Cups, and has now been capped 18 times by Scotland. It’s been an impressive career to date, but McGregor just wants to keep pushing himself to achieve even more in the green and white Hoops.

“I feel that I’ve progressed well in my career from my early days into where I am now,” he said. “To be sitting here with a lot of trophies and nearly 300 appearances for Celtic – as a young kid when you’re coming through the Academy, you dream of making a first-team appearance.

"So to be so lucky and fortunate to make nearly 300 appearances, and hopefully many more, then I think myself very, very lucky and it’s something that I can cherish.”

Training return has been the best present for Birthday Bhoy Callum