Will he or won’t he? Will Celtic or won’t they? Scotland’s best young midfield asset is finally up for grabs and all the evidence points to us moving for him. We’ve been here before, of course, with a move that everyone had anticipated long in advance. It is perhaps fitting that as we finally step into the present saga that the guy who looks certain to make way is the last one who impressed enough here at home, and who everyone knew we’d go for.
John McGinn is a natural replacement for Stuart Armstrong. The great shame is that one can easily imagine them playing together in the same team. What a midfield it has the potential to be. But it looks unlikely ever to come about.
I don’t need to tell regular readers that I am a fan of John McGinn. He is one of my favourite players outside of Celtic Park. I believe the kid has the talent to go a long, long way in the game and his heart belongs to our club. He has all the attributes of a top footballer, including phenomenal self-belief, which anyone who signs for us is going to need in spades.
If, as looks likely, we’re finally entering the race for him – and it’s now or never; once he moves to England, forget it – I would expect us to close the deal. Hibs might not fancy selling him to another Scottish club, but having Scott Allan as a makeweight should sweeten the deal somewhat. There will also need to be a hefty transfer fee … around the £3 million mark.
What’s important, for Hibs, is that Neil Lennon gets that money. Every penny of it. No excuses from Petrie will suffice. Neil will not hang around unless he gets backing, and Allan was in the team last season so signing him on a permanent deal will not help him build a squad. He will need funds for that, and therefore will expect to get whatever the club recoups.
For Celtic, we’re getting one of the nation’s outstanding talents.
It will keep the average age of the team low. It will give us another future captain.
There is an inherent risk in signing foreign footballers which is negated when you sign a proven talent close to home.
And I do believe McGinn has proved himself.
I’ve seen a lot of SPL players go up against us in the last couple of years, but none has impressed me more. McGinn’s strength and vision are excellent. He can play various midfield roles, but he says himself that he’s more of a playmaker than a defensive footballer. Fair enough, but he will still have to compete in an engine room where Brown is a guaranteed starter and Olivier Ntcham looks like he’s going to be hard to shift.
But McGinn believes he can do it, and that’s important.
He wouldn’t sign for us otherwise, and I wouldn’t want him to.
I want footballers at Parkhead who believe they are good enough to start every week. That keeps other players on their toes and gives us a squad that is becoming more and more formidable. The one disquieting thing about this prospect is that it gives McLeish yet another hostage, another player he can have in every international squad whether he needs him or intends to play him; that might work against us.
But the move, as a whole, would be a very good one.
We’d be getting a damned fine player and you can never have too many of those. I am excited by this prospect. I hope that we really are finally making our move. I think he will just get better and better as a player, and I very badly want that to be in our midfield.
It will be a cracking piece of business, and one for the long term.