Celtic reportedly had bids rejected by Hibernian for McGinn, before Aston Villa landed the midfielder.
Celtic icon Frank McAvennie has blasted his old side on Open Goal’s Right In The Coupon by saying that Brendan Rodgers should have signed John McGinn from Hibernian.
The 23-year-old completed a move to Championship promotion contenders Aston Villa earlier this week, as Villa finally ended speculation over the Scotland international’s future.
Celtic had previously had a bid of around the £2million mark rejected for McGinn, with Neil Lennon’s side looking to squeeze every penny out of interested clubs in their former number seven.
After signing a four-year deal with Villa, McAvennie told ex-Celtic midfielder Si Ferry that Rodgers had made a mistake in not signing the technically-gifted midfielder – stating The Hoops should have signed him weeks ago.
“I’m not surprised. Villa made the bid, they [Celtic] were there. Listen, if they [Celtic] wanted him, they could go and get him,” McAvennie said.
“I thought they should have went and got him a long time ago. He’s a quality player so there is always going to be other clubs coming in. Villa are a massive club – they can offer double the wages of Celtic.”
McGinn starred for Hibs last season, scoring six goals and creating another eight in his role as a box-to-box midfielder. He did, though, pick up 18 yellow cards. He has continued his form this time around, scoring two and creating two in five.
Celtic boast an array of central midfield talent that will become even more as Nir Bitton steps up his recovery. The Israeli joins the likes of Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham, Kouassi Eboue, Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor.
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