Celtic have been lauded for their work in the transfer market for over two decades now.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has done some excellent work over the last 18 months adding the likes of Luke McCowan, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty to the Celtic first-team squad.
In this window, Celtic have added Jota to the ranks whilst selling Hoops hero Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes for a £5m profit and Alexandro Bernabei to Internacional for more than the club bought him for.
The point is, Celtic have a knack for identifying players and making them stars to bring success to the club and then selling them on for a tidy profit.
With the Hoops preparing to face Aston Villa in the Champions League this week, it highlights one transfer story that should have been a Celtic success but has, instead, worked out better for the Premier League club.
Is John McGinn the one who got away for Celtic?
The John McGinn story is one that will have many Celtic fans wondering ‘what if’. There is, of course, an argument to be made that in the time that Brendan Rodgers wanted to bring the Aston Villa star to Paradise, he could have struggled to get into the starting lineup.
At the time Celtic had Scott Brown, Callum McGregor, Olivier Ntcham, Tom Rogic, Ryan Christie and Nir Bitton at the club who were all regular starters under Rodgers.
Whilst there was no doubting his talent, McGinn would have been an excellent signing for Celtic but ended up choosing to make the move to Villa after a last-minute phone call from the then manager, Steve Bruce.
John McGinn ‘wanted to play for Celtic’, why he chose Aston Villa
Speaking after his move to Villa in 2021, McGinn said of Celtic’s interest, “We went to the [Aston Villa] training ground and the stadium and I felt the way I was treated was perfect.
“That was a hard moment because I remember speaking to my mum and dad and we’d resigned ourselves to defeat with Celtic. Mum and dad grew up etched in Celtic, I wanted to play for Celtic, but it just wasn’t right. Maybe in the future, you never know but that is something I can’t affect now, it’s passed.
“When that first offer comes in you start thinking it’s done. It’s going to happen. So it was just a waiting game. The longest waiting game ever it ended up being. I ended up back for pre-season and it was, ironically, Neil Lennon who was Hibs manager at the time.
“Stuart Armstrong was still there, (Ryan) Christie, Scott Brown, (Olivier) Ntcham, all playing at the top of their game. There was no doubt I had the belief that I’d go there and play but then I had to weigh up everything.
“I still, in my head, wanted to play for Celtic, no doubt. But then eventually time went on and it was August – I don’t know how it managed to get to August – but I started to become quite good at just playing and it probably spurred me on to play better.
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