John McGinn

[roonst83]

2 hours ago, bobzy said:

It's a real interesting one, because I just don't understand the criticism of him, really.

Does he play at his very best every single game?  No.  Does any player?  No.  What he does is something that none of our other midfielders do - get the whole team up the pitch whilst offering a real tenacity at winning the ball back.  McGinn is the one constantly looking to run with the ball or spray passes forward or take on long range shots.  He's the only one constantly hassling opponents in the middle of the pitch.  Our other midfielders are completely passive by comparison (probably a bit harsh on Ramsey, who I think is a cracking player).

And if you don't want to do the eye test, take in these stats:
- He has scored more than anyone other than Watkins and Ings.
- Only Luiz and Buendia have assisted more than McGinn.
- He averages more key passes per game than anyone else in our squad.
- He averages more crosses per game than anyone else in our squad.
- He averages more tackles per game than anyone else in our squad.
- Only Traore and Sanson average more dribbles per game than McGinn.

For what it's worth, McGinn also averages more through balls than anyone else and more long balls than anyone other than our goalkeepers.

 

He's the most complete midfielder we have and, for me, is done a massive disservice by some of our fans - particularly when he's summarised as "using his arse well".  The guy is a very good midfielder.  Not world class, but certainly good enough for a team chasing European football in the Premier League.

 

All very fair indeed. He's definitely got a lot of attributes and you're right to note that no-one is perfect or fully consistent across 90mins. It's the huge chunk of times he goes missing that bothers me as there's times he's lost on the pitch which is to our disadvantage as he is very important, and effective, for us when he is involved. As for "using his arse". Part tongue in ('scuse the pun) cheek, but part truth. He's excellent at utilising his backside to evade challenges to turn away and escape the opposition and move us forward. So it is a key strength, and one he has openly acknowledged himself. But he has other strong attributes for sure. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by roonst83

[tinker]

3 hours ago, allani said:

Coutinho is a FAR bigger media story outside of Birmingham.

During the EUROs jack's appeal was huge, his potential as an English player was/is unparalleled, he could have gone on to Gazza type hype if he had stayed with us rather than join the plastic win everything machine. 

John McGinn should be kept unless the fee is well over £50m , if we let him go the message it sends to the other players is damaging, It's taken Coutinho to sign for us to start to repair the damage Jack doing one did . 

[ciggiesnbeer]

Its football. Mcginn is a great player and I want him to stay, but selling for a profit, in positions you can afford to, is what big clubs do. It would be a tidy bit of business.

Edited January 18, 2022 by ciggiesnbeer

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Every time I give up on him, he re emerges like a Phoenix with an outstanding performance.

Last season I was at the point of frustration with him.

Alot of our love for McGinn is sentimental. He is a huge character as well and I'd be very sad to see him go.

He's been very good this season. I think having better players around him will only improve him further as well, and allow him to play his natural game.

[danceoftheshamen]

Has to stay for me. It really is about time we stopped these clubs stripping us of our players when they see us looming on the horizon as any kind of threat to them. No surprise we take 4 points from them in the League for the first time in goodness knows how long and they start to look at weakening us the same week!!!  It has to stop if we are serious about challenging these clubs. Man City have done it (Delph, Grealish) and of course Utd have in the past too (Yorke, Young etc). Tell em to do one is my stance on it. I know sometimes it is the players fault but we need to find a way to stop losing our best year in year out,

Edited January 18, 2022 by danceoftheshamen

[MrBlack]

Don't need to sell him, SG clearly doesn't want to sell him, but if any club met our valuation for him then I think it would be sensible to. Especially so given our wealth of options in the position he plays. 

Thanks to FFP we will need to continue self funding our improvement, and getting peak value for McGinm would be helpful.  With Chuk coming through,  Coutino potentially joining (permanently) in the summer,  Ramsey looking the real deal, Buendia delivering on his promise and Luiz being perfectly capable of playing McGinn's role I feel we're in a bit of a no lose situation with him.  If Luiz is going as well I'd change my stance though. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by MrBlack

[Stoobs]

On 17/01/2022 at 13:54, villabromsgrove said:

I've just gone onto the Red Cafe forum and they've started a thread on John McGinn. It's only a page and a bit so far, but it made me chuckle.

Poster1: Why does this club have to sign English players?

Poster2: Ignorant post, he's Irish.

Poster3: Northern Irish!

I just hope Welshmen up and down the country aren’t offended by their ignorance. 

[Villaphan04]

12 hours ago, bobzy said:

I'd be dropping Luiz before I dropped McGinn or Ramsey and it's not even close in my mind.

Football opinions, eh?  

and for me Luiz is the first name in midfield (at least until Nakamba is back) as none of our other midfielders can really play the role linking with defense and the midfield/attackers. 

 

13 hours ago, bobzy said:

It's a real interesting one, because I just don't understand the criticism of him, really.

 

I would say that I feel a bit biased against him in that under Smith he felt *undroppable* even when he was going through rough & bad patches and got to play his way out of the slump whereas pretty much no one else got that long of a leash. Not that he isn't a good player mind, but I just don't think he's "head and shoulders" above the rest of our midfielders. 

[abdulaziz1]

For me there are a lot of players we can have profit on before thinking of selling McGinn. 
Watkins, Cash and even Luiz. I think those are the players we should look at selling. We’ll need to upgrade anyway. Not sure about Luiz but if we want a DM I don’t think he’ll start after that. Cash will need an upgrade next summer and we’ll have Kesler as a back up. But we’re already got Digne, I’m not sure we have a backup for him other than Targett. So I think he can stay a but more. Sell at the right time. But sell whoever is replaceable. Jack, Young, Downing, Benteke, Delph and Milner Weren’t replaceable at the time. But when we plan to sale for the fact we already have similar player or even better ones with the look of improving the team then we’d get to the higher level easier with a healthy FFP which would give us a higher chance to keep improving and going.

[John]

On 17/01/2022 at 19:57, Peter Griffin said:

Everyone has a price

Yes, but they won't want to pay it. Look at how long they took to agree a fee for Jadon Sancho. They try to unsettle players and to bully clubs into accepting, whatever they are willing to offer. I don't think our owners would be so easy for them to do that to and would demand the full value they place on their asset, as they did with our former captain. Unlike Sancho, John has shown that he can do it in the PL, so it would cost them more than they would be prepared to pay. When and if, they make any bid I expect our answer to be:

 

[Follyfoot]

How much are we talking here? I read reports of a £40 million deal. Why on earth would be sell himfor 40 million. If they want him 60 to 65,000,000 is the price or we don’t talk to them. If we get 60 to 65,000,000 for him bite their hands off

[Zatman]

14 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Every time I give up on him, he re emerges like a Phoenix with an outstanding performance.

Last season I was at the point of frustration with him.

Alot of our love for McGinn is sentimental. He is a huge character as well and I'd be very sad to see him go.

He's been very good this season. I think having better players around him will only improve him further as well, and allow him to play his natural game.

You just answered the McGinn issue. He is way too inconsistent and thats holding him back from a higher level

[Vive_La_Villa]

If United really want him and he wants to go then we’d need to take them to the cleaners.

[HKP90]

I just don’t understand why he’d want to go to United. It’s a 747 heading for a cliff face.

[osmark86]

What makes any of us think that he would want to leave for United? I haven't heard anything of the sorts. He's integral to our team, has dabbled with captaincy, performs really well for us the majority of the time and is one of our best characters. I'm also sure that he loves it here. I know that we would make a massive profit on him if we sold him, but that's mainly because we bought him for peanuts.

I know that hobby accountants on here are creaming at the potential profit margins, but McGinn? He's one of our key players imo.

[Khizzy]

Don't want him to go but this could potentially lead to the most profit we ever make on any player aside from an academy graduate. Can we find someone better than him for £40/50m? Don't know. 

[osmark86]

1 minute ago, Khizzy said:

Don't want him to go but this could potentially lead to the most profit we ever make on any player aside from an academy graduate. Can we find someone better than him for £40/50m? Don't know. 

doubt we'll ever come close to the profits we made on Grealish

[villa4europe]

10 minutes ago, osmark86 said:

What makes any of us think that he would want to leave for United? I haven't heard anything of the sorts. He's integral to our team, has dabbled with captaincy, performs really well for us the majority of the time and is one of our best characters. I'm also sure that he loves it here. I know that we would make a massive profit on him if we sold him, but that's mainly because we bought him for peanuts.

I know that hobby accountants on here are creaming at the potential profit margins, but McGinn? He's one of our key players imo.

as much as i dont think he's actually that great a footballer - he's not the answer to utds problems and not a £50m+ footballer - i agree with the last bit, he's huge for us, he's key because of what he offers off the pitch, in the changing room, in training, his personality 

i think he'd take a huge chunk out of this team if he left that we wont simply replace with another £50m player even if they're a better footballer

[avfc1982am]

Gerrard will not sell anyone to Utd, especially McGinn who epitomises the aggressive attitude he want's on the pitch.  

[kidlewis]

He’s been excellent this season for the most part. We need competition for places and our midfield and forwards now competing.

we don’t have that many injuries either so all it takes is a couple to be sidelined and we will be begging for signings. 
 

SG has clear aspirations to win a domestic cup next year which means we need a squad where our fully fit bench is just as good.

if we sell El Ghazi and Trez for say a combined £20m not sure we will need to be throwing away good players unless clubs are willing to pay way over the odds. 
 

for me McGinn is £50m his stats show that and he’s Scotland's player of the year and tbh the best they have. 
so if United rock up with £60m fair enough, they won’t though.