Midway through Aston Villa supporters’ chant about “Super” John McGinn, the bellowing “WHO” would have echoed far beyond the ground – as has this club’s start in the Premier League.
The chant was frequently sung during the 1-0 win over Arsenal, not only after his seventh-minute goal, but each time he set the tone on a busy evening defensively, in which he won the most duels and made the joint-most tackles.
Not bad for a player who just three days prior had led Villa for those statistics against Manchester City as well – on top of the most chances created, completed dribbles, and passes in the final third.
That’s box-to-box midfielder territory, an endearing role when it all goes right. And it marks some change from 14 months ago.
Though perhaps guilty by association, McGinn was out of favour with many Villa fans as Steven Gerrard’s reign turned sour.
Calls for the player to be dropped were ultimately ignored, given the manager had controversially made the Scotland international his new captain at the start of 2022-23. Stubbornness over selection was just one of the reasons for Gerrard’s downfall.
While McGinn’s subsequent exclusion was celebrated by some fans when caretaker boss Aaron Danks then took temporary charge, it quickly became evident that Unai Emery was a fan of the midfielder.
“I was unsure when Gerrard made him captain,” says Ryan Mckeown, co-host of UTV Podcast. “I saw him more as a ‘one of the lads’ type of character in the dressing room, be it dressing up in a full turkey suit a few Christmas’ ago or bopping around the physio room in his pants to Cotton Eye Joe.
“But he’s grown into the role, and the responsibility has added maturity to his game. He connects us fans to the players, generates the atmosphere, and ignites the momentum to drive this club on. He is a proper captain.
“We are benefiting from his infectious energy, his unique protection of the ball, his drive, his enthusiasm, and now he is adding big goals as well.
“Emery has elevated McGinn’s game to another level, after performances plummeted under the previous management. This is the best version of McGinn we’ve seen in a Villa shirt and long may it continue.”
When Emery arrived in October last year, the Spaniard asked McGinn where he preferred to play. “Anywhere apart from the bench,” was the player’s response. “But I didn’t think he would take that literally.”
This malleability sums up the man affectionately known as “Meatball”, a nickname stemming from his time in Scotland after a two-all-over haircut aged 17 left his head “that round that I looked like a meatball”.
The nickname stuck, but so too did his endeavour and work rate, which explains why he is currently on a 32-game run of starts in the Premier League, and has become a key component of a midfield that could yet deliver Champions League football.
With Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara anchoring this midfield ahead of Villa’s incredibly high line, McGinn is given a tougher task, where he drifts out wide when defending and plays more central in attack.
Add him to the list of Premier League players, therefore, who are constantly switching positions and cannot dare to switch off.
It is not a role for the faint-hearted, or the ill-equipped, but clearly Emery sees in McGinn a player able to meet such lofty demands.
“He is himself very demanding,” Emery acknowledged last month. “He is competitive, he always is ready to play. When he is not training or playing… his energy always is full.”
What next, then, is a question Villa are asking with trepidation. Currently in the title race, McGinn says the “T-word” is banned given only 16 matches have been played.
While they are right to ignore the outside noise, it would be hard to believe the Champions League is not on their minds.
That would take Villa to another level, an elevation sooner than anyone would have expected given Newcastle had only just crashed the party themselves. So would the player himself, a mere £2.7m arrival from Hibernian in 2018, cut the Champions League grade?
“When we were promoted the same question was asked: ‘Is he a Premier League footballer?’ He’s passed that test with top marks,” Mckeown adds.
“In his current form, he’s up there with the best midfielders in the league. I’d swap him for no one. He’s unique. There’s only one John McGinn, and he offers huge variation in our midfield coupled with Kamara’s combative (yet silky) play, Luiz’s control, Jacob Ramsey’s drive, and Youri Tielemans’ vision.
“It’s a midfield that would be more than comfortable in the latter stages of the Champions League, let alone the group stage.”
And in McGinn alone, Villa now have a player entering club legend territory. He’s been there five years, from the Championship to here, and if he continues to play a major role for more years to come – where journeys on the continent could become more storied – then his name could be chanted long after he leaves.
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