David Provan has reminded Celtic of their failure to sign John McGinn before he joined Aston Villa, as quoted in The Scottish Sun.
The Celtic legend made the comments following the Hoops’ 1-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership at the weekend.
Provan has criticised the Celtic board for failing to sign McGinn when they had the chance, as Neil Lennon’s side went 19 points behind Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.
The Scotsman wrote in The Scottish Sun: “These days Hoops’ money men couldn’t even get John McGinn’s signing over the line for the sake of a few quid. Think about it. The boy’s grandad was Celtic chairman, he was a fan desperate to sign.
“How did they screw that up? Say what you like about the Green Brigade but at least they are holding directors’ feet to the fire.
“Nobody wants to see the mob-handed protests that followed the Ross County defeat, but I get their anger. The downsizing that saw Lennon quit first time around has seen Celtic go backwards.”
Missing out on John McGinn
Celtic were interested in signing McGinn back in the summer of 2018 when he was at Hibernian.
As reported by The Times, Lennon said that he wanted to sign the Scotland international, but the Glasgow giants could not match the offer from Villa.
The Times reported that the Villans paid £2.75 million plus add-ons to Hibernian to secure the services of McGinn, who was 23 at the time.
The midfielder himself told Sky Sports in December 2018 that he had his heart set on a move to Celtic, as covered by HITC Sport here.
McGinn, now 26, has established himself as one of the best players at Villa and has been very impressive in the Premier League.
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