Steve Bruce convinced current Premier League captain to snub boyhood club over game of golf

Steve Bruce has told talkSPORT how he managed to lure John McGinn to Aston Villa ahead of his boyhood club.

McGinn moved to Villa Park back in 2018 having shone for Scottish Premiership side Hibs.

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His performances caught the eye of Celtic and the Glasgow giants had hoped to lure the Scotland international to Celtic Park.

However, after a chat on the golf course, Bruce, who was Villa boss between 2016 and 2018, managed to convince McGinn to overlook a move to Celtic in favour of a switch to Villa.

The midfielder ultimately secured a transfer to the Midlands side for an initial £2.8m.

‘We had to stall’

And Bruce admitted to talkSPORT that a chinwag on the fairway is what convinced McGinn to reject the Bhoys in favour of the Villans.

“I had heard his grandad used to be Celtic chairman. We had to stall,” Bruce said in 2024.

“We didn’t have the £2m at the time and he was going to Celtic, but I had heard that his dad and grandad played golf.

“I thought ‘I am going to try and get his dad down to give us a little bit of stalling time’.

“We got him to The Belfry and got the pro to play him – which gave us another 4-5 hours to rustle up the £2m because we didn’t have it at the time.

“I am really pleased for him because he has turned into a really, really top player.”

Bruce continued: “I remember Neil Lennon’s son telling me the best player in Scotland was John McGinn.

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“He was at Hibs at the time, Lenny, so I got straight on the phone to him and said we need to find out about McGinn. So we went to work on it.”

McGinn has gone on to become a key man for the Villans, making over 300 appearances for the Midlands giants since his arrival from Hibs eight years ago.

The 31-year-old recently returned to training after a two-month spell on the sidelines, and featured in Villa’s Europa League first leg tie with Lille in midweek – PLEASE UPDATE ACCORDINGLY

Villa’s top-four hopes

And the midfielder is expected to feature in Villa’s crunch top-four clash with Manchester United on Sunday.

Unai Emery’s side have endured a significant dip in form in recent weeks having won only two of their last nine league outings following their recent 4-1 thumping at the hands of Chelsea.

The dip has seen Villa drop to fourth in the table, albeit level on points with Sunday’s opponents United.