Aberdeen will be gaining an unbelievable captain and leader in Scott Brown according to his midfield partner Callum McGregor.
The Celtic skipper played alongside McGregor at Pittodrie in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against the Dons, but the two long-time partners in the Hoops engine room will be on opposing sides when the two sides meet again.
Switching from colleagues to adversaries will be an adjustment, but McGregor insists Aberdeen have landed a hugely influential figure in new player-coach Brown.
He said: “He will be the one kicking me. It will be strange, but it will be interesting to go up against him.
“He and I have always been partners in there and I am looking forward to the challenge and I am sure he will be as well.
“It is a new chapter for him. He has been an unbelievable captain for Celtic, a huge leader and presence and Aberdeen will be gaining a real good one.
“I am looking forward to it.”
Celtic hit back from the loss of Lewis Ferguson’s early goal for the Dons to deny new Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass victory in his first league game in charge with Leigh Griffiths coming off the bench to equalise in stoppage time.
It was a clinical headed finish from Griffiths, whose future at Celtic Park is uncertain, but McGregor is no doubt about the striker’s qualities despite an unsettled campaign.
He said: “I see a talented boy and somebody who has had massive success at the club. You just look back to his 40 goals in the 2015-16 season.
“It is well-documented his problems and us as team-mates we try to help him as much as we can.
“I feel that is our duty to keep him on the right track, training well and looking after himself, because we all get the benefit of that and so does he.
“That’s the type of striker you want around you in a squad when you are going for trophies, with that killer instinct.”
The outcome could have been so different had referee Willie Collum decided to take action for a McGregor challenge on Jonny Hayes.
The two players collided on the edge of the penalty area, but Collum let play continue before booking the new Aberdeen manager for his protests about the decision.
Glass wanted a foul, which if given would have led to McGregor being dismissed.
The Celtic midfielder knows it was a key moment in the closing stages of the game.
He said: “You never know, you just try and follow in.
“Luckily I got enough pressure and something happened and we got the ball back. You can’t give up on those situations and sometimes when you make up that extra yard you get a wee bit of luck as well.
“Sometimes they go for you and sometimes they don’t, but thankfully it went for us.”