Celtic pundit Paul John Dykes has recently talked about John McGinn, questioning why the Hoops didn’t sign him earlier in his career.
This came after Dykes hosted the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and he talked about numerous issues involving the Hoops. He talked about the lack of Scottish talents that Celtic go after in the market and this led to him talking about McGinn. Dykes talked about the time when he first watched the Scotsman play and then he questioned why the Hoops didn’t sign him.
McGinn recently scored from an overhead kick for the Scottish national team, helping them pick up a 2-2 draw against Austria in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Back in 2018, he had joined Aston Villa from Hibernian despite interest from the Hoops.
Was it Celtic's fault that they missed out on McGinn?
Yes
No
Dykes said that when McGinn had played for St. Mirren against Celtic as a teenager, he was the best player on the pitch and he feels that the Hoops should’ve signed him then.
The pundit stated: “So you’ve got a wee guy playing for St. Mirren and I remember being at a St. Mirren game and I was introduced to Tommy Craig, who was at that time managing St. Mirren. And talking to Tommy Craig, he says – keep an eye on young John McGinn.
“I think he might’ve been 17 or something like that. This was at Celtic Park and he was the best player on the pitch. Celtic won that day. But wee McGinn was superb. So you’re looking at that and you think, why didn’t we go for him even then?”
TIF Thoughts on John McGinn…
Celtic actually had multiple bids rejected for McGinn in the summer of 2018 but he still ended up signing for Aston Villa. The Scotsman didn’t join Celtic, even though he’s a Bhoys fan.
While that is certainly disappointing for Celtic fans, McGinn had later clarified that he joined Villa because Steve Bruce had promised him regular game time, whereas at Celtic, he wasn’t going to play regularly because of the players that they had.
So while Celtic fans should be gutted about missing out on McGinn, perhaps it wasn’t the club’s fault.