Scottish Champions Celtic are relentless in their pursuit of Hibernian midfielder John McGinn. According to Sky Sports, the Hoops have seen their third bid for the 23-year old knocked back. The third bid is in the region of £2 million. Previous offers made in the last two weeks for the Glasgow-born midfielder have been £1.5 million and £1.7 million.
McGinn is entering the last year of his contract at Easter Road and has also attracted interested from clubs south of the border. The versatile midfielder can play at the centre of the park, as a defensive midfielder and on the flanks as a left midfielder. McGinn has been capped nine times by Scotland. He has also won the Scottish First Division, Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
Hibernian value McGinn at around £4 million and Celtic will have to come closer or meet Hibs’ valuation. St Mirren are entitled to a third of any sell-on fee due to a clause in terms of McGinn’s move to Edinburgh.
According to Express, 33-year old Scott Brown believed McGinn would be his long-term replacement at club level as he has already done it at international level.
Interestingly, Celtic signed Brown from Hibernian 11 years ago. According to the Daily Mail, Hibernian insiders are using Brown’s transfer fee from over a decade ago as a yardstick. McGinn has already featured for as many first team games as Brown had prior to his £4.4 million switch. The 23-year old has nine caps, eight more Brown’s single cap at the time of his move.
The general consensus is that market fluctuations and changes notwithstanding, there is no way Scottish transfer fees have drastically fallen to an extent where McGinn would be worth less than half of what Brown was and Hibernian are willing to hold out for the right offer.
It is understood that Hibernian would let McGinn depart for the sake of his career. A cash plus a fringe player like Scott Allan deal is still a possibility although none has been offered at this point. There is also interest from a number of English clubs who can offer better terms than Celtic. Given the English transfer slams shut three weeks before the Scottish window, there is a chance of Brendan Rodgers being gazumped.
McGinn missed the first-leg of the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round against NSI, a game which Hibernian won 6-1 at home. He returned for the trip to the Faroe Islands.
There were no signs of the transfer speculation affecting McGinn as he produced a sparkling performance. He opened Hibs’ scoring in the tenth minute after the Scottish side had gone two goals down inside the first ten minutes and assisting another in the 10 goal drama. The high scoring match ended in a 6-4 win for the travelling Hibs.
The Easter Road club is prepared to play hardball over McGinn. Their financial strength means Hibs have no pressure to sanction the sale of a player entering the final year of his contract.
The Capital club is remaining strong in their valuation of the player. It remains to be seen which side will bat an eyelid first.
