John McGinn has opened up on the transfer saga that resulted in a move to Aston Villa over Celtic.
It’s no secret that McGinn is a boyhood fan of the Hoops, but a move to Glasgow has never arrived. It looked like a stick-on to happen in 2018 when the midfielder was at Hibs, but it was the Birmingham side who turned interest into a concrete bid.
Sporting the number seven at Villa in honour of his childhood hero Henrik Larsson, he joins the ranks of a ‘what could’ve been?’ signing had Celtic acted quickly to finalise a deal that would’ve seen him fulfil a lifelong dream.
The 31-year-old appeared on Stick to Football to share the transfer saga with Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott.
McGinn believes that the Hoops were confident in landing his signature without doing much work – until Villa entered the picture. He said:
“I think the irony is that if he wasn’t my grandpa and I wasn’t a Celtic fan, I probably would be a Celtic player.
“I think they felt that, because I was a fan, it would just happen. Nobody else would come in [for me], Hibs would crumble.
“Hibs were amazing. They said, ‘We’re not going to stand in your way, but they need to pay us what you’re worth.’
“I gave them my word. You won’t stand in my way, but I’ll wait until they pay what I’m worth. It never ever got there.”
But the Celts failed to cough up the small fee that the Edinburgh side valued their star player at. They thought that pulling a few strings and currying favour with their former Chair would be enough to see a deal wrapped up.
“They actually phoned my grandpa to try and influence me at the time”, McGinn added.
“It just went on and on, actually for months. I was desperate to go to Celtic, everyone at Hibs knew I was desperate to go.
“Villa phoned a week before their takeover and said they were interested. They got that takeover and within a day it was done.
“It was either 2.5 or 3 [million pounds].”
Roy Keane then asked McGinn why Celtic were dragging their heels, and the Scotland star gave a blunt answer that shows what the Hoops board have become known for.
“They’ve done it with quite a few players. If they thought a team would come in, they probably would’ve just done it.
“They thought it was a bluff for more money.”
The Scotland hero revealed he had met with then-manager Brendan Rodgers to discuss joining the club. Rodgers said he would need to fight for a starting spot with the likes of Scott Brown, Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham already competing.
“At the time I couldn’t quite understand. When I met Brendan, they had a formidable midfield. I was excited to go there.”
McGinn has gone from English Championship new boy to Villa captain, leading them to Europa League glory while also becoming one of Scotland’s top-five highest scorers of all time.
The move to the champions never came to fruition, with the club’s failure to show a serious interest meaning he opted for a move down south.
It seemed an opportunity missed at the time and remains so.
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