Neil Lennon has confirmed that he tried to sign Ryan Christie for Hibs during the John McGinn saga.
The summer transfer window of 2018 will be discussed and debated for years to come with the negotiations for the now Aston Villa player at the centre.
Rod Petrie was never going to hand McGinn to Celtic with his best wishes but somewhere along the line negotiations fell apart and someone expected to be part of this season’s Celtic midfield moved elsewhere. On deadline day Youssouf Mulumbu was signed as a free agent.
Scott Allan and Mikey Johnston were rumoured to be part of a proposed McGinn deal with Lennon confirming one other element of negotiations.
“I tried to get Ryan to Hibs at the start of the season, before he made his impact here,” the Celtic caretaker told the Sunday Post. “There was talk of John McGinn signing for Celtic, and we were very keen to take Ryan to Easter Road.
“It’s obviously worked out well for him, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him on the pitch. Ryan was a real catalyst, once he got into the Celtic team, for a lot of good performances.
“The one which sticks out is the League Cup semi-final against Hearts. His second-half performance was superb and the team went on to have a great win that day. He’s not looked back since.”
Lennon was reunited with Christie against St Mirren on Wednesday night with the former Aberdeen loanee scoring the decisive second goal after missing five matches with a hamstring injury.
Next Sunday Christie returns to Hampden to face his former team-mates, the same venue where he scored the winning goal in December in the final of the Betfred Cup.