Charlie Mulgrew’s injury nightmare now behind him

Charlie Mulgrew hopes his enforced break will mean he’s the freshest player in the Scotland squad this summer.

The Celtic man missed nearly six months of football because of a troublesome hamstring tendon injury.

He returned to the Hoops’ side to face St Johnstone on Friday night, and believes he will be ready for the Scots’ Euro 2016 crunch qualifier against the Republic of Ireland on June 13.

“I think I will be mentally fresher than a lot of players who are kind of winding down,” said Mulgrew. “Now that I’m fit again, I would happily play right through the summer, so hopefully it works in my favour. I’m desperate to be involved in the Dublin match.

“Scotland’s friendly against Qatar would be a good place to show I’m fit and ready. Hopefully, I’ll get the call-up and I can get more match sharpness.

“I bumped into Scotland manager Gordon Strachan at the dentist recently. He was in ahead of me, and when he came out, we had a chat.

“Everything was very positive. I told him my situation and he was quite happy.”

The 29-year-old admits his spell on the sidelines has been incredibly frustrating.

He went on: “It is the first time I have had an injury where some days there is no improvement.

“Any muscle injury I have ever had, you wake up every day and it keeps getting better then all of a sudden it is away. But it wasn’t like that this time.

“Whenever you felt you were getting somewhere, you didn’t know if it was getting better.

“It is only been the last four to six weeks I have really seen a big improvement. I am just delighted there is no pain there now.”

Mulgrew now faces the challenge of regaining a midfield place with club and country.

He was Man-of-the-Match when Scotland beat the Irish at Celtic Park last November. That should ensure he will get the nod to face Martin O’Neill’s side if he can prove his fitness.

At Celtic, his future is a little more uncertain.

Nir Bitton has impressed alongside Scott Brown in the middle of the pitch, and will be hard to displace.

Mulgrew said: “I have been impressed with Nir.

“He is still young, but it’s no surprise to me that he has done well because I have seen him in training and I could see what he could do.

“But we all like a challenge, and fighting for places brings out the best in us.

“I have been enjoying midfield, but I can do a job in other places. I have played at centre back and I like that as well.

“Those are the two areas I enjoy the most. It’s really where I am most needed.”

With Jason Denayer returning to Manchester City and Virgil van Dijk expressing a desire to move on, Celtic could be short of central defenders.

Mulgrew, who dismissed talk of a move to Bournemouth as unfounded speculation, is happy to fill in.

He said: “I have spoken to the manager and he knows my thoughts.

“I’m happy to play there if needed.”