Pundit blasts Celtic’s transfer policy over John McGinn miss

Pundit Tam McManus has fired a shot at Celtic’s recruitment after John McGinn’s latest impressive display in England. The Aston Villa skipper scored the only goal as Unai Emery’s side beat Arsenal.

McManus took to Twitter/X to ridicule the decision by Celtic not to sign the ex-Hibernian man in the summer of 2018.

Brendan Rodgers was extremely keen to sign the player but the clubs could not come to an agreement over a fee, opening the door for Villa to swoop and take him from Easter Road for just £500k more than Celtic wanted to pay.

McGinn has gone from strength to strength at Villa and for Scotland, making the decision not to stump up that extra half a million more ludicrous. At the time, some pundits and fans questioned where he would fit in, given Rodgers had Scott Brown, then POTY, Callum McGregor, Olivier Ntcham and Stuart Armstrong in contention alongside Tom Rogic and the returning Ryan Christie.

It was clear from Celtic’s games against Hibs the season before that McGinn was an obvious replacement for Brown. Unfortunately, the Celtic hierarchy refused to budge and no deal was forthcoming.

McManus is quite right in his estimations re McGinn, who would’ve complimented CalMac brilliantly as he does for Scotland.

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About Author

Born just as Celtic were stopping the Ten, Lubo98 follows Celtic home and away and helps run his local Celtic Supporters Club. He goes to all the games and is a Law Graduate. Has a particular fondness for Tom Rogic among the current Celts and both Lubo and Henrik form his earliest Celtic memories.

6 Comments

  1. Sorry but I think it’s slightly demeaning to suggest Mcginn would complement CalMac. CalMac is a very good footballer but Mcginn is a class above and far more effective.
    He would be celtic captain if we hadn’t made a hash of it, and Cal would be a brilliant supporting player who would complement Mcginn.
    Just an honest opinion 💚

  2. Clearly Tam McManus failed to do his homework properly. Because according to JOHN MCGINN, at the eleventh hour when John McGinn had his choice to make, the exact same deal was on the table both from Celtic and from Aston Villa and it was John McGinn who made the decision to choose Aston Villa instead of Celtic!
    Unless of course John McGinn lied and Tam McManus knows John McGinn’s situation better than John McGinn himself did.
    I think we know the real answer to THAT question!

  3. Yeah, sure it made sense that we should’ve signed him back then but that ship sailed a long time ago, and even if we had signed him, he would probably have moved on by now, based on the form he has shown since then.

    We still won trophies in the intervening period so weighing it up it’s the profit we would have made and maybe the value he would have provided to the team during the ill-fated attempt at 10-in-a-row.

    It wasn’t the first mistake we have made in the transfer market nor will it be the last but at least it gives still gives Tam McManus a smug feeling all these years later.

    • Eugene McElhinney on

      I’d say the reasons why John McGinn chose Aston Villa are a private matter for him and his family, rather than something to be scavenged on through media.

  4. The real question is who the fuck cares what some gobshite says for clicks and attention , punditry seems to be full of no-mark ex-players spouting pish IMO . hail hail .

  5. I have it on good authority (his brother) that it was £50K Lawell quibbled over that lost us John McGinn, not £500K. FIFTY feckin thousand pounds! THAT does still hurt!