Aston Villa Beat Celtic to Sign John McGinn From Hibernian for Undisclosed Fee
Aston Villa have completed the signing of John McGinn from Hibernian for an undisclosed fee, the Championship club have announced.
The Scottish midfielder has signed a four-year contract with Steve Bruce's team, choosing to move to England despite persistent interest from Celtic.
"I’m really pleased to have joined the club. I’ve already visited Villa Park and the training ground and the set-up is incredible," McGinn told AVTV.
"The last 24 hours have been a bit of a whirlwind with so much going on but I can’t wait to take part in my first training session and make my debut."
The 23-year-old came through the ranks at St Mirren before joining Hibs in 2015. This will be the first time he has played outside of Scotland.
McGinn revealed that sitting in the stands at the club's home ground convinced him that the move was the right one.
"The one that got it for me was when I sat in the stand at Villa Park and I could imagine myself playing out there," he said, as quoted by BBC Sport.
"It felt right and I can't wait to get started. It's a Premier League club and deserves to be there.
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"We'll work as hard as we can to ensure the club flourish. When you look at this place, it's a pretty easy sell."
McGinn turned Celtic down because they couldn't make the same assurances about game time that Villa could.
