Brendan Rodgers has admitted that John McGinn is the type of player that any manager would love to have.
The Celtic boss travelled to Easter Road on Wednesday night and watched the former St Mirren midfielder dominate the Scottish Cup win over Hearts.
McGinn has managed to break into the Scotland squad despite playing in the Championship and isn’t short of admirers.
Celtic are relatively well off for midfielders but seven years ago fans were saying the same when James McCarthy was impressing at Hamilton Accies.
The Ireland midfielder moved on to Wigan and Everton and despite his fondness for Celtic is well outside budget with a weekly wage of over £60,000 at Goodison.
McGinn is bound to be linked with Celtic over the coming months with Rodgers not saying anything to dampen down speculation.
“He’s very good, he looks like the type of player you love as a manager,” he told The Sun about McGinn.
“I’d heard a wee bit about him without seeing a great deal of him myself but he is very industrious and looks a great lad. He knows the game, you can see that with the way he fills in positions.
“Defensively he’s strong, he puts his foot in and can make a tackle.
“He doesn’t oversell himself, he’s technically very good when he tackles.
“Tactically he looks like he’s got a good understanding of the game.
“He passes it well and had a couple of good moments in the game when he moved into the box. He was a real driving force for them.
“It’s great to see an honest boy like that doing well. I know he’s a good friend of Liam Henderson and he played very well.”
Henderson and McGinn were central to Hibs Scottish Cup win last season but that Hampden win may not be the last time that they play in the same side.