Paul McGinn still can’t believe Celtic didn’t press ahead to sign his brother John when they had the chance.
But he reckons it’s worked out for the best after watching his meteoric rise to the Premier League close up. Celtic infamously decided against a £3.5m bid for McGinn while he was at Hibs, and their loss was Aston Villa’s gain. They swooped in and he became a key player in their return to the top flight, where he’s remained a top player ever since.
Now he’s the captain and has started every game so far, Villa winning four league games out of five under Unai Emery. It could all have been so different and older brother, Motherwell defender Paul, spoke to Open Goal about his career, and the crossroads that took him to Villa Park.
“You wouldn’t have imagined (his rise to the top),” he said. “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. This is a no risk. Down south with Aston Villa, they were still in the Championship at the time. I think they were mid-table, but they made a right few good signings.
“That American came in (co-owner Wes Edens) and I thought he has got a right chance now, even then. To be at the top of your game for that long is unbelievable. It’s so tough. You never had seen it (McGinn’s rise). I thought he might have played in the Premier League, but been a bit part.”
But did he press him to sign for Celtic instead? He said: “Not really getting that involved. 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. My grandad was chairman (at Celtic).”
Meanwhile Celtic could have to face Gio Reyna in next week’s Champions League showdown after the American international made a quicker-than-expected return to action for Borussia Dortmund. The Hoops travel to Germany to face last season’s runners-up in the competition. But they will be encouraged after BVB crashed to a shock 5-1 defeat to Stuttgart last week. But the hosts were handed good news when manager Nuri Sahin revealed that Reyna – son of former Rangers star Claudio – has recovered from a groin injury and will be in contention against Celtic.
He said: “Things are looking good for Gio, surprisingly quickly too. We said that he would only be available after the international break, but the way things are going right now, it’s possible that he could be considered for the last two games before the break against Celtic and Union Berlin. Everything he’s doing looks very good.”
And Sahin admitted he needed to take his share of the blame for that Stuttgart loss after initially slamming his players, ahead of Friday’s derby with Bochum. He said: “Of course it hit me hard too that we played a game like that. No one saw it coming. And I take responsibility for that myself. That shouldn’t happen, but now we’re looking ahead. Everything was missing and I include myself because my in-game coaching was not the best either.”