Former Celtic manager Tony Mowbray has praised John McGinn for snubbing Celtic and joining Aston Villa – claiming that the Scotland midfielder will be ‘tested’ – in the English Championship.
Mowbray, who is now in charge of Blackburn Rovers, admitted the 23-year-old was also on his radar before McGinn made the £4 million switch to the Birmingham club from Hibs last month,
Celtic also had a bid accepted by the Easter Road outfit for the playmaker and Mowbray, whose team came up against McGinn in Saturday’s goal-less draw against Villa, believes a move south of the border will be more beneficial for McGinn.
Mowbray, speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph said: “John was on the radar, it’s good for him to come to England and test himself.
“It’s been a pretty common route to leave Edinburgh and go to Glasgow and the Old Firm but it was good for John McGinn to come to England and test himself in a league where he will get tested.
“John McGinn is a good footballer and had been on our radar a long, long time.
“I know the people at Hibernian very, very well and there was a sense he was leaving. Celtic had been mooted a lot.
“John fell into a category of where we were going to spend some of the money, how much on this position, and at the early part I didn’t really see central midfield as somewhere where we needed to spend a lot of money.
“I felt as though we were reasonably strong in that area of the pitch and wanted to spend it in other areas.”
