Celtic fans probably won’t hear the end of John McGinn until he retires.
Given McGinn’s success in the colours of Aston Villa, and now the fact that he is their captain, as well as a regular for Scotland.
Then, Celtic not signing McGinn in 2018 will always be seen as a missed opportunity from the champions of Scotland.
But, following Celtic’s pretty abject 2025 summer transfer window, Richard Foster thinks the Hoops have repeated the McGinn situation all over again.
Photo by Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty ImagesCeltic’s transfer mistake with Lennon Miller and John McGinn
Lennon Miller had been linked with Celtic for a while, and it was clear that he was going to leave Motherwell with his contract running down.
It has even been suggested that Miller was open to joining Celtic in January, as Foster is baffled by how the Hoops missed out on such an ‘easy’ opportunity.
Speaking on Go Radio, Foster thinks Celtic have made the same ‘mistake’ they did with McGinn by not signing Miller for ‘£4 million.’
“If they didn’t execute in (signing Miller in) time, then they didn’t offer enough money,” said Foster. “They didn’t offer what Motherwell valued him at. It wasn’t a huge amount of money.
“Celtic, as good as they have been at signing players and earning money on those players, they made the same mistake with John McGinn. Was it £4 million they could have purchased John McGinn for? What would a John McGinn be worth now? He’s playing every week and is the Aston Villa captain.
“They have made errors. It’s strange because they scour the market and find absolute gems. All the ones recently, but the best one ever was Larsson. They got him for a bag of crisps and a can of Coke. Exceptional player.
“But it seems like they get the really easy ones wrong. They find these players. They find the van Dijks of the world. And the Wanyamas. They find them. They make a lot of money on them.
“But the easy one, going to Hibs for £4 million for John McGinn. Going to Motherwell for £4 million for Lennon Miller. They get those ones wrong. I don’t understand it because I think it should be the easy one.”
How has Miller fared at Udinese after Celtic links?
Whilst the likes of Celtic come under fire for not signing enough domestic players, those in Italy are racking them up.
That’s why Udinese were the ones to sign Miller, and it will be interesting to see how his career pans out from here on in.
Given that Miller didn’t have a pre-season with the Serie A side and arrived late, he is still finding his feet because he has only played 124 minutes.
Games: 3Starts: 1Off the bench: 2Unused substitute: 4Goals: 1Assists: –Total minutes: 124