John McGinn: Steven Gerrard’s unsung hero at Aston Villa
Philippe Coutinho, Emiliano Martinez, Tyrone Mings and Matty Cash understandably get a lot of praise at Aston Villa.
All of them are match-winners in their own rights, whether it’s making huge saves, game-saving tackles or scoring and assisting goals.
However, there’s one man in Steven Gerrard’s squad who’s been absolutely outstanding this season but doesn’t get anywhere near the credit some of his teammates get and that’s John McGinn.
The 27-year-old midfielder has made 27 appearances in all competitions this season for the Villans. He’s scored three goals and two assists in those games. They’re decent numbers for a central midfielder – but not headline-grabbing.
However, what should be splashed all over the back pages are McGinn’s other stats.
According to WhoScored, only two players in the Premier League have completed more tackles per game than the Scotland international [3.1] this season. Leicester’s Wilfried Ndidi and Brighton’s Yves Bissouma are both joint-first with 3.2.
McGinn’s also completed 1.4 key passes per game, which is the second-best in Villa’s squad after playmaker-in-chief Coutinho [1.5]. It also ranks him joint 23rd in the Premier League, level with Manchester City’s Phil Foden, Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho and Crystal Palace’s Conor Gallagher.
McGinn’s pass accuracy is a lowly 79.2 per cent. However, the ex-Hibernian star is operating with a high risk, high reward policy when he has the ball at his feet – which is quite often given how much he wins it back.
Not many players in the Premier League can boast the skillset of McGinn.
He knows his limitations but he also knows his strengths and boy, does he play to them.
Villa are a far better team with him in their side and they’ve done incredibly well to keep hold of the Scot as long as they have done without one of the Premier League’s top clubs coming in to sign him.
In other Aston Villa news, Ashley Young is set to leave in the summer.