Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn reveals all about just how close he was to joining Nottingham Forest before his move to the West Midlands.
McGinn appeared on The Big Interview with Graham Hunter and discussed numerous topics but one particularly of interest was regarding a nearly move to Nottingham Forest on deadline day the summer before his move to Aston Villa for a reported fee of around £2.75m.
The Scot has appeared 99 times for the Villains in the league since joining in 2017, scoring 11 goals and he was influential in helping the club secure promotion to the Premier League in 2019, scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Derby County in the play-off final.
Since his arrival, McGinn’s stock has only gone up with the West Midlands side now valuing the midfielder at around the £50m mark as they attempt to fend off interest from other clubs.
The highly-rated midfielder was however close to having a different career path when Nottingham Forest came calling for his services during Mark Warburton’s reign, which if the move had gone ahead, could have diverted both McGinn’s career path and the Reds may also have been better off in the league.
McGinn however praises his agent for standing firm and not being bullied into forcing a move with the East Midlands club seemingly putting pressure on the transfer at the time.
“The summer before [joining Aston Villa], I was very close to going to Nottingham Forest on deadline day,” McGinn said.
“Ironically it was Mark Warburton who was in charge at the time. But on deadline day it was tough because you have to balance when this opportunity was coming around. I was loving my time at Hibs, but I wanted to test myself at the higher level.
“Full credit to my agent at the time, it would have been easy for him to do what I was being pressurised by Forest to do and push through the move.
“But it’s not in my nature, it’s not what I wanted to do and he was fully on-board with that.”
Nottingham Forest may well have found themselves as more of a contender for the top six had they landed their man back in 2016 and he may well have been the one to help cement their play-off place last season as they slipped out on the final day.
For McGinn, it may have been a lucky escape as he may not be playing in the Premier League today and may not have improved as much as he has done during his time under Dean Smith.
