Highly-rated midfielder John McGinn could have joined Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2017 but he joined Aston Villa instead, as per an article in the Daily Record.
The report states that the offer Forest made could have seen McGinn quadruple his wages, but the would-be Villa midfielder ended up rejecting the offer.
Hibernian sporting director Graeme Mathie told the Daily Record: “He came back and said: ‘Look, I get it, this is football, it’s no problem at all. I’m loving being at Hibs and I want to have the best season of my career and hopefully get a move to a good club’.
“Let’s be honest, while John was committed to Hibs, somebody was potentially offering to give him four or five times his money to take him to the English Championship and us, as a club, had said no to that.
“I thought that was an unbelievable thing for a young man to say.”
One of the best midfielders this season
While McGinn did reject Forest in the summer of 2017, the Scotsman ended up joining the Villains in the summer of 2018 for an undisclosed fee. Scottish giants Celtic were also said to be interested in acquiring his services, as per BBC Sport.
In his first season at Villa Park, McGinn impressed and helped his club sealed promotion into the Premier League. Last season, McGinn played 40 times in the Championship for Villa. He scored as many as six times and racked up an impressive tally of ten assists as well.
In the Championship play-offs, he played three games and scored one goal too- the one that helped Villa clinch promotion into the Premier League by beating Derby County.
Since then, McGinn has been linked with a move to Manchester United. Reports this past summer had suggested that Sir Alex Ferguson wanted his former club to sign his compatriot. The same report also suggested that McGinn’s grandfather is very close to Ferguson.
Those links to United continue to be made. Fresh reports say that Villa are maintaining a tough stance on United’s interest in their midfielder.
TIF Tactics
So far this season, McGinn has, arguably, been one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League. WhoScored ratings suggest that he has been the league’s second-best box to box midfielder behind Kevin de Bruyne with a rating of 7.48.
He has made the sixth-most number of tackles per game for Villa this season. He has completed the second-highest number of tackles per game for the club, only behind summer signing Marvelous Nakamba. He has completed the highest number of dribbles per game at the club too, which stands at 2.8.
Not just that, but McGinn also boasts of being the second-best key passer in Dean Smith’s side, playing 1.3 key passes per game so far.
A move to Forest could well have helped the club more than player, considering how Villa were a more recognised club for promotion than Forest. It is worth debating whether he could have improved and would have helped the club earn promotion, but McGinn will likely improve any side with his completeness.