Amidst all of Aston Villa’s transfer business across the last two seasons, few deals stand out as offering greater value than the club’s impressive acquisition of John McGinn from Hibernian in 2018.

McGinn, 25, arrived in the West Midlands for a reported £2.7m fee, and has shone to become an important part of Dean Smith’s starting line-up, scoring 10 goals, registering 11 assists and also being named the players and club’s player of the year in his side’s promotion-winning season from the Championship.

The Scotsman, who has been impressing on the international stage and scored his first professional hat-trick against San Marino last month, had been linked with a move to Manchester United in the summer transfer window, but the interest did not materialise and McGinn remained with Villa for the start of the 2019/20 campaign.

Yet the latest reported interest that could see United make a move in January is likely to be of concern to a number of the club’s fanbase - but no Villa fan could begrudge McGinn if he did indeed make the move to a top-six side.

From the perspective of profitability, the reported £50m interest from United in the summer would represent a staggering £47.3m return on Villa’s initial outlay, despite McGinn's current valuation of £5.85m, enabling reinvestment in a squad who will need further impetus at the conclusion of the current campaign; on the basis of the performances from Smith’s side so far and the 20 goals conceded a - number only bested by the bottom-three. 

But most importantly, the part McGinn has played in revitalising Villa’s domestic prospects and giving the West Midlands outfit the chance to re-arrive in the Premier League cannot be understated.

His impressive consistency throughout Villa's first 12 league games has seen him record a WhoScored rating of 7.48 - the ninth highest of any Premier League player and the highest of any player from outside of the current top-six - illustrating the level at which McGinn belongs with regards to his performances. 

The Scotsman's humble nature and consistent performances have made the 25-year-old a fan's favourite in B6, and although the prospect of losing him may seem daunting, there can be no doubting this is a player who belongs in the upper echelons of not only domestic competition but European football, too.

Although Villa’s owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris have outlined their ambitions for the former European champions, they would be wrong to begrudge McGinn if the opportunity to compete and impress in domestic and European competition with one of England’s biggest sides arose.