Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn has taken to Instagram to praise Matt Targett, who has recently signed for Newcastle United on a permanent transfer.
Targett left Villa in January to join the Magpies on loan for the remainder of the season after Steven Gerrard bought Lucas Digne to the club from Everton, pushing the full-back out of the squad.
The 26-year-old was a mainstay in the Villa side before switching to St James’ Park, featuring 17 times in the first half of the campaign. He then made a further 16 appearances under Eddie Howe after making the switch to Tyneside.
There was a clause in his loan deal stating that if the Magpies wanted to make the deal permanent in the summer, they could pay a £15m fee, and it was recently announced that the clause had been activated by Howe and the deal has been completed.
After the news had been released that Targett has signed for Newcastle, McGinn took to Instagram to praise the full-back, saying: “What a guy, will be missed.”
McGinn didn’t let Targett leave without a parting shot, though, as his next post wished him all the best – alongside a picture of the defender throwing up.
Should Villa have let Targett leave?Yes
No
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TIF Thoughts on Targett…
Targett could be seen as a big loss to Villa, as he played a big part in Newcastle’s impressive second half of the season when they finished 11th in the Premier League. He had the fourth-highest average player rating at the club with 6.96 (as per SofaScore) and Howe has been impressed enough by paying the required fee to get him in the door permanently.
However, Gerrard did bring in Digne, a French international with experience of playing at the top level with Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, so if the English manager thought he was a better fit for his system, letting Targett go seems like the sensible move.