This afternoon, Celtic’s Scott Brown comes up against the man widely touted to replace him at Parkhead.
John McGinn has admitted to The Scottish Herald that he refrains from taunting Scott Brown in the belief that such banter usually makes the Celtic captain a much harder player to face.
Celtic visit Hibernian at Easter Road this afternoon in a fixture which will also see the combative Hoops skipper come up against the man who has been touted to replace Brown at Parkhead in the long term.
McGinn, who played alongside the 32-year-old with Scotland, is a rising star in the Scottish game and his dazzling brace at Parkhead in September has strengthened the suggestions that he is the perfect candidate to succeed his compatriot in Glasgow.
Off the field the pair have a healthy relationship, but the 23-year-old Glaswegian revealed to The Scottish Herald that Brown will be out for blood to prove a point and suggests that any pre-match verbal jousting on his part will only make it worse for him.
He said: “If you try it [sledging] I think it just winds him up and makes him better. I usually just try leave him alone because he makes my afternoon worse. I just try to concentrate on my own game and let him shout at everyone else.”
Brown turns 33 in June and although he has the appetite to go on forever no doubt, his body will slow down eventually and it makes sense for Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers to make a pre-emptive approach for McGinn in Janaury.
Coaxing him from Neil Lennon’s Hibernian will be anything but easy, especially in the middle of a season, but if he can then it’s certainly a deal worth doing.
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