Simon Donnelly has admitted that he was surprised Celtic failed to sign midfield maestro John McGinn in the summer transfer window.
Aston Villa beat the Hoops to signing McGinn, 23, despite Brendan Rodgers reportedly tabling multiple bids for the Scotland international.
Former Celtic star Donnelly believes that the fact that the club failing to make a major signing in the summer could be behind their lack of form at the moment, and hints that McGinn could have provided that boost.
“A couple of players have moved on and there’s been no major signings coming in. I felt sure John McGinn would sign from Hibs but that didn’t happen,” Donnelly told the Scottish Sun.
“As a player, I remember the boost I always got when new signings arrived.”
OPINION
Just one look at McGinn’s form south of the border and Celtic fans will realise just how much Rodgers dropped the ball when he failed to sign the midfielder in the summer. The former Hibernian star would not have cost that much in the grand scheme of things and he would have made a massive profit for the Hoops after a couple of seasons of tearing up the Scottish Premiership. Watching McGinn’s wondergoal against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday makes you know that a Premier League club will be willing to pay the big bucks for him soon enough. He would have slotted straight into Celtic’s first team at the moment, especially with Olivier Ntcham playing so poorly and could have even been a long-term replacement for ageing club captain Scott Brown. There are some Celtic fans who don’t rate McGinn, but they must admit now that it was a huge mistake not to table better offers in the summer.