Davie Hay: Bidding war aside, John McGinn will be at Celtic sooner or later

I think the midfielder’s heart lies at Celtic but what Hibs will be angling for is for another club to come in for him and force the price up.

I have said for a long time that I believe he will be an excellent addition to the Celtic midfield. He definitely has the quality to go in and make his mark and with Stuart Armstrong away, McGinn is a player who can fill that role.

He is someone that I think could play in tandem with Olivier Ntcham, with one going forward and one sitting back. He is intelligent, he is young, he will get better at Celtic and I think he is desperate to play for the club.

To be fair to Hibs, Celtic have sold Armstrong to Southampton for a decent fee and although McGinn has just one year remaining on his current contract, as did Armstrong, I do think that the Easter Road side will hold out for a decent fee for the player.

They will be looking for around £4, I would think, and it remains to be seen just what duelling goes on between the clubs over the next few weeks.

I do believe, though, that McGinn will be a Celtic player sooner rather than later. He also has that added benefit of knowing the club and knowing what he is going into.

Most players recognise that the standard goes up the minute you walk into Celtic but he knows the Scottish game and I think he would be a relatively seamless addition to the squad. He also knows a lot of the players who are already there and I fully expect that he slot in there with ease.

It is just a matter of when.

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