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Gabriel McKay

Callum McGregor and his Celtic one club man dream as midfielder looks to join legendary group with clear target in mind

He's made no secret of the fact he'd like to spend his entire career at Celtic, and Callum McGregor took a step closer to that objective as he inked a new five-year contract on Friday.

The Scotland international hopes to see out the deal, which would take him up to the age of 33 with his boyhood club and mark 25 years in the Hoops.

Asked in 2018 about becoming one of football's increasingly rare one club men, McGregor replied "if I could do that, I'd be absolutely delighted".

It's not an easy feat at the top level, with even some of the players who are synonymous with clubs spending time away at the tail end their careers.

No-one would deny Steven Gerrard the title of Liverpool legend, Xavi the status of Barcelona icon or Alessandro Del Piero his place in Juventus folklore but even those legendary figures didn't achieve the one club dream.

That means if McGregor can do it he'd be joining some of the greatest names in the game, both from Scotland and outside.

Here are 10 of the most iconic one club men.

Rogerio Ceni

The Brazilian may have played 12 games for Sinop before moving to Sao Paulo as a 17-year-old but he was part-time and playing for a state league team so it seems cruel to deny him his place on the list.

Ceni played more than 1,200 games for Sao Paulo, as well as winning 18 caps for Brazil.

He hit 131 goals in 1,237 matches for his club - not that impressive a record until you consider the fact he was a goalkeeper.

Ryan Giggs

Giggs: "Whenever the manager needs help, the more experienced players will help" (John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images)

A veteran of more than 1,000 matches across his career the vast majority came at club level and for just one team.

Giggs spent 24 seasons at Manchester United, winning every trophy going and playing on past his 40th birthday.

In total the Welshman played 963 games for the Red Devils, scoring 168 goals and lifting no fewer than 25 major trophies.

Francesco Totti

(AFP/Getty Images)

Not so much a one club man as a one city man, Totti was born and raised in Rome and, it's said, had never strayed beyond the beaches outside the Eternal City before away trips made it a necessity.

He joined Roma's youth system at the age of 13 and remained with the Giallorossi until he was 40.

He hit 307 goals in 786 games to make him both the club's leading goalscorer and leading appearance maker of all time.

Totti led Roma to the Serie A title in 2001 as captain, and remains the oldest goalscorer in Champions League history after dinking home against Manchester City in 2014.

Paolo Maldini

Paolo Maldini (Getty Images)

One of the few players in history to make over 1,000 professional appearances, Maldini spent all of his 25 seasons at Milan.

Across 902 appearances he won seven Serie A titles and the European Cup/Champions League fives times while becoming widely regarded as one of the finest defenders of all time.

Maldini is part of a family dynasty with the Rossoneri. Father Cesare captained Milan to the European Cup in 1963 and son Daniel is currently playing for the Italian giants.

Packie Bonner

Pat Bonner in action for Celtic (Daily Record)

One of the names indelibly etched in the history of Celtic, Bonner made over 600 appearances over a whopping 19 years at Parkhead.

The Irishman won 12 trophies with the Hoops and was even nominated for the 1989 Ballon d'Or.

Bonner is fifth on Celtic's all-time appearance list, with his final match coming as he won the Scottish Cup in 1995 though he would remain on the books for a few more years as a player-coach.

Sandro Mazzola

The Lisbon Lions are destined to remain Celtic's greatest ever team, but there was another legendary one club man on the opposite side that night in Portugal.

Mazzola was a key part of the 'Grande Inter' team which won back-to-back European Cups and were denied a third in four years in 1967.

Father Valentino was a legendary player himself and while not quite a one-club man spent the vast majority of his career with Torino.

The captain of that legendary team was killed along with his team-mates in the Superga air disaster when Sandro was just six.

On the one occasion he was tempted to leave Inter, having received a lucrative (for the time) offer from Juventus, Mazzola was told in no uncertain terms that "your father would turn in his grave".

Willie Miller

(SNS Group 0141 221 3602)

Voted Aberdeen's greatest player of all time, Miller was part of the side that defeated Real Madrid in the Cup Winners' Cup final in Gothenburg.

Between 1972 and 1991 he made a staggering 797 appearances, winning the aforementioned European trophy as well as three league titles, four Scottish Cups, three League Cups and the European Super Cup.

Miller made at least 40 appearances for Aberdeen in 14 consecutive seasons.

John Greig

Tam Forsyth, centre left, helps carry team captain John Greig, centre, along with goalie Peter McCloy after Ranhgers win the 1978 title (Mirrorpix)

Rangers aren't short of a legendary figure but one stands above them all.

John Greig made 755 appearances in his Ibrox career and was captain for the 1972 Cup Winners' Cup triumph over Dynamo Moscow in Barcelona.

A statue of the former defender stands outside of Ibrox and he was voted the greatest ever Rangers player in 1999.

Billy McNeill

Billy McNeill (centre) celebrates with his team-mates after winning the Scottish Cup in his last match. (SNS)

From Jinky Johnstone through Tommy Burns to Henrik Larsson there are plenty of players who have been taken to the hearts of Celtic fans - as the song has it, most of the football greats have passed through Parkhead's gates.

None come close to the status of McNeill though.

The captain of the Lisbon Lions stands on Celtic way, the famous trophy raised above his head, and when he passed away in 2019 there was an outpouring of grief. Among the mourners was his old Rangers rival, Greig.

McNeill played 789 times for Celtic and aside from that night in Lisbon he won nine league titles, seven Scottish Cups and six League Cups.

Carles Puyol

Barcelona's side from 2008-2011 claimed 2 Champions League titles, 3 League titles, 1 Spanish Cup, 2 UEFA Super Cups and 2 World Club Cups (Getty Images)

With Xavi, Andres Iniesta and more recently Lionel Messi all eventually leaving Camp Nou it's Puyol who is the one club man from the Barcelona side that dominated the world.

Michels' Ajax, Sacchi's Milan, and Guardiola's Barça are the three teams that leap to mind when considering the best of all time and the centre-back was a stalwart for the Blaugrana.

Over a 15 year career in the first team, 10 of those as captain, he lifted 21 trophies including the Champions League three times.

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