Aston Villa lucky to sign ‘absolute bargain’ John McGinn amid Steve Bruce Celtic admission
Aston Villa fans may not be quite aware of how lucky they are to have John McGinn at Villa Park, having signed the midfielder from Hibernian in 2018.
The 29-year-old has always been a mainstay in the Villa squad, amassing 227 appearances in all competitions and becoming a fan favourite.
That trend has continued under Unai Emery this season, playing 28 of their 29 Premier League matches, only missing one due to his red card against Tottenham Hotspur, and also performing well in Europe.
Steve Bruce drops Celtic admission on Aston Villa star
Despite becoming one of the most important players to grace Villa Park in the last few seasons, Steve Bruce has admitted that McGinn’s move to the Midlands nearly never happened while he was manager at the club.
Speaking live via talkSPORT on Tuesday (17 March, 9:22am), he said: “Absolute bargain, yeah, he was. It was two million quid, but we didn’t have two million quid. So we had to stall it at the time.
“All along, we had to compete with Celtic, and I don’t know if you know, but John McGinn’s grandad, I think, was the chairman of Celtic, so all the stories were telling me he was going to Celtic.
“I heard that his dad played golf, so I thought I am going to get his dad and get a bit of some stalling time. We got him to The Belfry, which gave me another four or five hours to try and rustle together the two million quid because we didn’t have it at the time.
“But, yeah, I am absolutely pleased for him because he has turned into a really, really top player, the kid.”
How important is John McGinn at Villa Park?
With an 82 per cent pass completion in the middle of the park, McGinn is a perfect partner for Douglas Luiz at Villa, also boasting the third-highest dribbling success in the team with a 66.7 per cent completion. [FotMob]
With six Premier League goals this season, the Scot is in the top 89 percentile for non-penalty goals among midfielders in the top five European leagues, as well as the top 83 percentile for shot-creating actions. [FBref]
Much better when pushing forward, the 29-year-old is incredible for take-ons in the Premier League, possessing a top 97 percentile rating in that department.
These statistics show just how vital McGinn is to Villa this season, which has continued throughout his career, and how lucky the Villans are that Celtic could not pip them to the signing.
In other Aston Villa news, Hutton has admitted that Paulo Dybala may be an option for Emery in the summer transfer window
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