Aston Villa added a couple of extra faces into their squad on deadline day yesterday, with Leander Dendoncker arriving from Wolverhampton Wanderers in a £13m deal, while Polish defender Jan Bednarek joins on loan from Southampton.
The successful transfer window has yet to reap its rewards in the Premier League, however, with the club suffering four defeats from five matches, with their only win coming against Everton on match-day two.
Manager Steven Gerrard will certainly be under some pressure now, and with initial aspirations of making it into the top half and gunning for a European place he needs his squad to rebound and quickly to realise this ambition.
Newly instated captain John McGinn could well be the man to drag Villa back from an ominous position, and the club have played a blinder on the talented Scotsman.
Aston Villa struck gold with John McGinn
The club signed McGinn from Scottish Premiership side Hibernian when they were dwelling in the Championship for a fee of just £2m back in 2018 and it has proved to be an inspired signing.
The 27-year-old shone in Scotland for both St Mirren and Hibs, winning both a League Cup and Scottish Cup winners medal during his spell north of the border, but it was abundantly clear that he was far too good for Scottish football.
His four full seasons at Villa produced 16 goals and 23 assists, an excellent return for a central midfielder, and over the course of his career, he has a total of 96 goal and assist contributions, displaying his attacking intent.
McGinn doesn’t just perform at club level - he has shown he can cut it at international level too, winning 48 Scotland caps and scoring 13 goals, enough to rank him in 12th position on the all-time goalscoring chart for his country.
International teammate and Liverpool star Andy Robertson has lavished praise upon him in the past, dubbing him “super” John McGinn, and his performances more than justify this and the popular chant that accompanies it.
His development over the last four years has seen his value rocket to £34.5m according to CIES Football Observatory and it's likely to rise even further.
Despite holding an average WhoScored rating of just 6.54 this season, his ability and experience at the highest level will surely give Villa hope that they can improve in the coming weeks and relieve the pressure from Gerrard.
The Steve Bruce reign might not be looked back on too fondly by some of the Villa faithful, however, he was the one that brought McGinn to the club and for that, they should be eternally grateful.