Why Celtic Should Look To Sign John McGinn In The Summer
Celtic are looking to bid £1.5million for Hibernian midfielder John McGinn this summer, according to Daily Star (h/t Daily Record). The 22-year-old Scotland international has been plying his trade in the Championship this season with Hibernian, but given their promotion, he will be a Premiership player next season one way or the other.
He would appear to deserve the chance to play in Scotland’s top flight having been vital to Hibs’ campaign this year. As well as playing with an all-round energetic style, McGinn has contributed 4 goals and 8 assists in just 28 leagues games this term. In fact, since breaking into the St Mirren team back in the 2012/13 season, McGinn has never played less than 30 league games in a completed season. So his fitness and commitment are not in question.
As he matures, he seems to be adding more goals to his game and is looking like a vital midfield component for his side with his best years still ahead of him. Would these attributes make him a good fit for Celtic though? They most certainly would.
He already has a Celtic connection. His grandfather is a former Celtic chairman and SFA President and he belongs to a footballing family of Celtic supporters. He also has youth on his side; whatever McGinn has achieved this season will be bettered next year and the year after. So Celtic signing him would represent an investment, rather than simply being a squad building exercise.
There remains the very real danger of Stuart Armstrong leaving the club this summer and he would leave a rather sizeable gap in the Celtic midfield. Armstrong has, in fact, contributed precious little in front of goal in European football for Celtic, but has chipped in with 14 goals and 7 assists domestically. One would argue that a player of McGinn’s ability and potential could match that in the Scottish league and cups if given enough time. So this move could well lead to Celtic employing a direct replacement while also making a profit.
McGinn played 98 times for St Mirren early in his career before going on to make 88 appearances (so far) for Hibernian – stats which appear to show genuine loyalty. That loyalty and commitment would surely not wane should he play for his boyhood heroes, who just happen to be regularly on top of the league by the way. Therefore, there is very little risk in this signing from Celtic’s perspective.
McGinn may yet go on to lead Scotland to World Cups and European Championships and surely Celtic would rather have him doing that while playing for them, than anyone else.
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