Inside Callum McGregor’s secret Celtic lunch date that helped lure Brendan Rodgers back to Glasgow

Callum McGregor chuckles at the suggestion he was Celtic’s undercover super spy over the summer., writes Michael Gannon in Japan.

But even if he wasn’t quite sneaking around in Spain, the Hoops skipper was still thrilled his top secret mission helped to bring Brendan Rodgers back in from the cold. The captain is back in his usual role leading by example on the pitch out here in Yokohama on Celtic’s Japanese tour.

And he sat down to reveal the incredible turn of events that saw him taking time out from his holiday to hold hush hush talks over lunch with Rodgers that would eventually lead to the manager making a sensational return to the Parkhead dugout. McGregor said: “It was when I was on holiday for around five days before I met up with Scotland. I flew out to Majorca and, completely randomly, things started to unfold at the club with Ange (Postecoglou) moving on.

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“I was just taking a few days to chill out. I then got a message from the manager asking how I was and if we could catch up.

“He’d heard I was out there – he clearly has spies everywhere – so it shows you that you never go under the radar for long! He was staying around half an hour away from me.

“We just met at my hotel and it was easy enough for me! He came to my hotel and we just stayed and had a bit of lunch.

“We were in the restaurant so I was actually surprised nothing came out at that point. We were just lucky to get a wee bit of privacy to have a chat.

“It stayed under the radar, probably for as long as it needed to – until he told everybody about it! I didn’t mention it to anyone, though. I never told a soul.

“Everyone was asking me