John McGinn knows he’ll never play for Celtic. He closed that door himself.

I don’t know if Charlie Mulgrew knows more than he lets on, but his contention today that John McGinn still dreams about playing for Celtic is about as worthless as a chest of gold doubloons buried under eighty metres of Siberian permafrost. McGinn had his chance to sign for Celtic, and that chance is gone.

Earlier today, when I was writing about Rod Petrie, I realised I wanted to cover the McGinn saga as well. Petrie didn’t want to sell him to Celtic. I understand that. But money talks, and Celtic simply weren’t prepared to offer enough of it. At the heart of our failure was an arrogant presumption: that we could wait, that he would sign a pre-contract in January, and that until then John McGinn would sit tight.

What utter stupidity. That’s the geniuses at our club for you.

Lawwell tried to use that presumption to get McGinn at a knockdown price. He thought that if he dangled that in front of Hibs that they would have no choice but to accept whatever scraps we threw at them.

Petrie was infuriated by it and refused to play ball. The colossal misjudgement from Lawwell was assuming McGinn would hang around, desperate to wear the Hoops, regardless of what Celtic did. But McGinn was smarter than that.

He knew Celtic weren’t valuing him properly.

When Aston Villa came in with a serious offer, when they showed him respect and paid Hibs what they wanted, there was no hesitation.

McGinn didn’t want to wait until January.

He didn’t want to gamble on our lowball offer. He also knew that if he reached the last six months of his deal, he’d have better and more lucrative options than whatever Celtic thought they could get away with offering him. Our calculation was fundamentally flawed from the start. It was the classic Celtic board trick — trying to leverage a player’s love for the club to override his common sense and self-interest.

McGinn utterly rejected it. When Villa put their offer in, he went down there for talks and felt that they were paying him the proper respect. From that point on, the lure of the Premiership was always going to do the rest.

I never had a problem with McGinn choosing Villa.

In fact, I thought it was the sensible decision.

Celtic’s behaviour was insulting, and Villa made it clear they valued him. He went where he felt wanted. But by making that choice, McGinn also shut the door on Celtic. He knew the day he signed for Villa that he was closing it forever. That’s why I’m unmoved by suggestions he might want to open it now.

McGinn is 30. He’s on the wrong side of the curve.

At best, he could give us one or two strong years before decline set in. I’ve always been amazed by players who talk about coming to Celtic in their thirties as though they’d be doing us a favour. Unless you’re world class, you’re not.

Had McGinn come when he should have, he would have anchored our midfield for the last seven or eight years. But it didn’t happen, and now it never will.

For me, that was a tragedy for Celtic.

At the time, I considered it a minor disaster.

McGinn was born to play for this club. He should have been one of the defining players of his generation in a Celtic shirt.

McGinn has proved what he can do. He has become a top-class midfielder.

Even today he’d be an upgrade, but only for a couple of seasons. If he signed at the end of this campaign, he’d be 31. From there, it’s all downside.

It’s a tale of what might have been.

On the day he signed for Villa, everyone involved must have known the truth — that it was over, and that it would never come to pass.

That’s why it doesn’t matter what McGinn dreams about now, or what ambitions he harbours. That door closed years ago. He had the chance to walk through it, but he chose something else. I don’t hold it against him. I just know what it meant.

And deep down, so does he. Whether Charlie Mulgrew realises it or not, that chance has gone. For Celtic, John McGinn will forever be the one that got away.