John McGinn scored the opening goal in Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Russia on Friday, and many Aston Villa fans took to Twitter to rave about their midfield ace.
Alas, McGinn’s strike wasn’t enough for the Scots, who eventually went on to lose 2-1, but that didn’t stop Villa fans from singing his praises.
By no means was this a McGinn classic either. It wasn’t a cannoned volley from 30 years out, nor was it a driving and penetrative run from the middle of the park.
Instead, this was a case of right place, right time for the 24-year-old, who was on hand to tap home a fairly simple effort from close range after some questionable goalkeeping from Guilherme Marinato.
Not that it mattered to the Villans, who were quick to jump online and hail their hero.
Here are some of the best tweets from supporters.
https://twitter.com/WayOfTheVilla/status/1170048334289166336?s=20
It’s going to go in. It’s going to go in from John McGinn. Look after him Scotland. I genuinely love him.
— The Villa Decree ???????? (@TheVillaDecree) September 6, 2019
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— Ty Bracey (@TyBracey) September 6, 2019
Increasingly, the £3 million Aston Villa paid Hibernian for John McGinn looks like one of the greatest bargains in British football for quite some time.
The Scot plays with an authority and confidence that goes far beyond his age, and his all-action style of midfield generalship has understandably won him an army of admirers.
Already this term he has averaged two shots per game, as well as 1,5 key passes and 1.8 successful dribbles in the Premier League, as per Whoscored.
When you then factor in a huge 4.3 tackles and a pass completion rate of 76.5%, including 2.5 successful long passes, it’s easy to see why he so highly rated at Villa Park.
McGinn is everywhere, breaking things up, setting up attacks, even scoring regularly too.
He really is an omnipotent hero.
https://twitter.com/RobWatts23/status/1170086045049851905?s=20
Legend.
— matt (@jeanstshirt) September 6, 2019
The only issue with his performances is that they might be too good.
It’s hard for newly-promoted sides to keep their top talent as it is, but with the level of display McGinn is putting in week in, week out, he could be making it nigh on impossible for his current employers to keep hold of him for too much longer.
There was already talk of Manchester United preparing a £50 million swoop for the 24-year-old over the summer, as reported by The Sun, and you can’t help feeling that the longer McGinn performs like this, the more likely that kind of interest is to become concrete.
@Pork_Vale_FC @njtyl @danbramwell1 what a player!?
— Gandalf The Grey (@BenjaminHipkiss) September 6, 2019
£50m won't even buy his right foot never his left.
— FutureFilm (@futurefilm1) September 6, 2019