Celtic made its first official bid for John McGinn last night.
Someone leaked that to the press.
Someone also leaked to the press that the bid had been rejected.
When that didn’t generate the headlines which were intended, someone then told the media the offer was for £1.5 million, which is less than what Hibs were allegedly offered for him last month.
Don’t listen to this garbage. Games are being played here and Celtic is well aware of it. The story has been leaked to put us on the bad side, but the truth is somewhat different and Celtic is not going to let the Easter Road side piss all over us on this.
It’s no secret that Celtic and Hibs have had a monumental falling out behind the scenes. Lawwell and Petrie cannot stand the sight of each other. Petrie believes we’re all that stands in his way of ascending to the SFA throne … and in some ways he’s right. He’s been trying to shore up support lately, and that included running to Ibrox for help.
I’ve known for a few weeks that John McGinn was likely to be a pawn in that bigger game. It’s why I said last week that the Stuart Armstrong replacement might not be the one everyone assumed, and indeed the one I’d written about. That these stories have been fed to the media, in a naked attempt to make us look bad, confirms that suspicion.
Celtic will not give up on the player.
He’s been on Brendan’s list for a while. But there is a number over which we simply will not go, a valuation beyond which we will not stray and we are more than prepared to walk away if Hibs make unreasonable demands. Petrie may well try to use McGinn in more ways than one. If the player digs in his heels he’ll end up at Parkhead and Petrie knows it … but he also knows that he can make it hard for us, and for McGinn himself.
McGinn is an outstanding young footballer, and he badly wants to be a Celtic player; that much is well known to all of us. He also knows that the matter is in the hands of the two clubs. He may not be wholly aware of the politics of this matter and actually, I hope that he keeps well out of it and trusts in us to get this over the line.
He is a good young professional. He is not the sort to go on strike or cause a scene, but no player can be forced into a move he doesn’t want and McGinn can afford to spend another year at Hibs whilst his contract runs down to nothing.
If it comes to it, Petrie might find his game of hardball costing the club millions.
And as bitter and angry as he is at us, he’s not that stupid.
I still expect McGinn to end up at Celtic Park, but it is no longer certain.
The first bets have been laid in a major poker game between Lawwell and the Hibs chairman.
I think we’ll win because we have the better player and more chips to bet with, so we don’t need to play this out if we think we’ve got a shitty run of cards. We won’t go all-in when we could fold a bad hand now and wait a little longer for the same result.
It’s a risk, because if the kid isn’t willing to wait Hibs could sell him to someone else in the meantime. But Celtic plans for every eventuality and that will be factored in to our thinking. We have money to spend and there are other players out there.