Former Celtic target John McGinn has made us look foolish once again, after sweeping Aston Villa’s Player of the Year awards.
The former Hibernian star won both Supporters’ Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year last night. It was an impressive double-trophy sweep from the former Celtic target.
Fans will still have our transfer pursuit of McGinn fresh in the minds. Celtic had several offers rebuffed for the tenacious midfielder from Hibs last summer. Villa then snapped him up for less than £3million. Since then, the Scotland international hasn’t looked back.
McGinn has played no less than 47 matches for club and country this season. He’s scored six goals this term, with his memorable volley against Sheffield Wednesday still fresh in the mind.
His tenacity, determination, and drive has been key for Villa this season. He’s proved any doubters wrong, and more importantly, he’s proved Celtic wrong in not making sure he switched Edinburgh for Glasgow.
McGinn will now be looking forward to the playoffs, with Villa guaranteed a spot as they look for promotion to the English Premier League.
Let this be a lesson
As if we weren’t ruing the decision not to bring McGinn in enough, this should be a real lesson for the Celtic board.
Players won’t just sit back and wait for Celtic to reach an agreement with their club. We don’t fully know Celtic’s mindset on this one. But it just feels as though many thought McGinn would come to Celtic just because he has a Hoops background.
That, in reality, couldn’t be further from the truth. Players will always look to see what benefits them the most. Not just financially either, but in terms of where they’re wanted most. Say what you want about Villa, but they showed the most desire to get him, and didn’t penny-pinch in their deal either.
McGinn’s sweep of the Villa POTY awards is just further proof we made a blunder on this one. His value will have rocketed, and we can now likely forget ever seeing him at Parkhead as a player.
We had our chance – we blew it miserably.
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