Steve Bruce was the Aston Villa manager as the Championship club bought John McGinn from Hibernian last summer.
Aston Villa’s chief executive Christian Purslow has thanked Steve Bruce for bringing John McGinn to the club last summer, while speaking to AVTV.
Villa beat Celtic to the signing of the highly-rated Scotland international on the final day of the summer transfer window and the former Hibernian talisman has been worth every penny of his bargain £2.75 million price-tag, as reported by the Birmingham Mail.
McGinn’s relentless work ethic has made him an immediate fan favourite and he scored his ninth goal of the season in Monday’s play-off final victory against Derby County at Wembley, bundling home from close range after Rams goalkeeper Kelle Roos spilled a high ball.
And Purslow believes that the much-maligned former Aston Villa boss Bruce deserves plenty of credit for bringing McGinn to the Midlands.
“John McGinn is the model signing for Aston Villa – age, hunger and the most important of the lot which is quality,” Purslow said.
“He is an incredibly influential figure around the team. He exudes positivity and loves playing for our football club and that rubs off on other players. If we could find players of that ilk and profile with quality and character – that’s the perfect Aston Villa signing.
“We’ve (Purslow and manager Dean Smith) both said recently that we thank Steve Bruce for that because he left us an absolute gem in that footballer.”
The Daily Record claimed in May that former Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was planning a bid to sign the £20 million-rated McGinn for Leicester City this summer.
But Villa have absolutely no need to sell now, with Premier League promotion easing the club’s financial worries.
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