Celtic reportedly wanted Everton midfielder James McCarthy before he moved to Wigan Athletic from Hamilton Academical.
The former Hibernian forward believes that McGinn is worth £3 million, and has suggested that Brendan Rodgers’s side cannot afford to see him leave for another club for that price.
McManus, who now works as a pundit for BBC Sport, has also stated that Celtic cannot afford to have another situation like the one they had with James McCarthy, who is now on the books of Everton in the Premier League in England.
McCarthy joined Wigan Athletic from Hamilton Academical in the summer of 2009 for an initial transfer fee reported by The Daily Record to be worth £1.2 million with adds-ons of £1.7m.
The Daily Record claimed at the time that Celtic made a late attempt to try to convince the Republic of Ireland international central midfielder to remain at Hamilton for another season before a move to the Hoops.
McCarthy joined Everton from Wigan in the summer of 2013 for a transfer fee reported by The Belfast Telegraph to be worth £13m.
McManus wrote in The Herald: “Quotes of 5m from Neil Lennon are maybe a little optimistic but 3m plus should be more than achievable. But again it all depends on the volume of interest.
“At that price it looks a no brainer that Celtic would be interested when you consider they paid around that for Kouassi who again for me looks nowhere near the same quality as McGinn.
“They don’t want to risk another James McCarthy scenario of letting a top domestic talent slip through their fingers for a relatively average sum of money.”
Quality footballer
McGinn is a very good and talented footballer who has established himself as one of the best midfielders in Scotland.
The 23-year-old Scotland international midfielder has scored five goals and provided four assists in 29 Scottish Premiership appearances for Hibernian, so far this season, according to Transfermarkt.co.uk.
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