John McGinn visited a memorial in Solihull this evening to pay his respects to four children who died after falling into an icy lake on Sunday.
The Scotland star and his teammate, Tyrone Mings, laid a wreath as part of a tribute to the young boys from Aston Villa.
Boys aged six, eight, 10 and 11 died following the incident at Babbs Mill Lake, Solihull, near Birmingham.
The Villa duo spent a few moments in silence looking at the hundreds of tributes, cards, flower, children’s toys which have been laid at the foot of a tree since tragedy unfolded.
Both players have been at the club’s mid-season training camp in Dubai before returning to the UK ahead of Thursday night’s home friendly against Spanish side Villarreal.
McGinn said: “We were in Dubai when we heard the news and I thought of my nieces and nephews, and the players thought about their kids. It was certainly moving for us.
“We saw John Eustace (Birmingham head coach) come down yesterday and myself and Tyrone thought it would be good for us to pay our respects.
“I’m sure tomorrow night in the friendly against Villareal, the Villa family will come together and pay our respects to what is a tragic event so close to home.
“Nothing can sum up what the families will be thinking, what the community will be thinking.
“But it just shows what a close-knit community it is.”
England defender Mings added: “It was a personal decision to pay our respects. I think it’s impacted the whole city.
“We felt it was important to come down on a personal level just to show that support.
“Sometimes, as we’ve seen with other things that have happened across the city, there are things more important than football.
“We felt it was important to come down here, show our respects and show we were thinking about everything that has happened and the parents that are affected by it. We feel that pain too.”
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