Stephen McGinn has detailed how his brother John’s move to his boyhood club Celtic never happened – with the family all believing he would sign for the Hoops at the time.
In the summer of 2018, it seemed certain the Hibs hero and 2016 Scottish Cup winner would make the switch to Glasgow.
Instead, he signed for then-Championship side Aston Villa under manager Steve Bruce, with Celtic unwilling to match Hibs’ desired fee.
Now the Villa captain’s brother Paul has revealed how the Celtic move never came about. “I remember watching the games against Celtic and thinking ‘surely they are going to take him as a no-risk [signing]’. He has done really well against them,” Paul told Open Goal via Football Scotland.
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He continued: “That was basically what we thought was going to happen because it was only Celtic that were in really. I think Celtic had wind of that as well.
"I remember the agents saying that if Villa get the transfer embargo sorted, then they are coming in. I don’t know if they thought that was maybe agent talk or something. He [my grandad] was chairman [at Celtic].”
After signing for the Birmingham side for a fee reportedly close to £3 million, McGinn has since thrived at Villa Park and is set to face his boyhood heroes there in a Champions League clash in January.
