Ryan Christie admits that John McGinn was an unbelievable player at Hibs.
In the summer of 2018 the two men were at crossroads in their careers, impressing at a certain level but others needed convinced that they could step up.
Christie returned to Celtic for the final year of his contract with no great expectations following 18 months at Aberdeen.
McGinn had been the driving force for Neil Lennon at Hibs but the Edinburgh side weren’t prepared to entertain Celtic’s offer of £1.5m for the grand-son of a former club chairman.
Stuart Armstrong’s £8m transfer to Southampton created a gap in the Celtic squad but Peter Lawwell’s negotiating tactics opened the door to Aston Villa who haven’t looked back or regretted the decision to sign McGinn on the back of one season in the SPFL.
It took Christie until an autumn day at Murrayfield to make his mark on Celtic, by the turn of the year he had signed a new contract and netted the winning goal of the Betfred Cup Final win over Aberdeen.
McGinn’s development from The Championship to the EPL is the path that Christie wants to repeat at Bournemouth, as he looked at the Villa man, and others such as former Aberdeen team-mate Kenny McLean.
Speaking to the Daily Record about his EPL plan, Christie said:
When people look at these boys now in the Prem, they forget how and where they started. They came down and got promoted. Now everyone opens their eyes and realises how good they are but I could have told you that McGinn was an unbelievable player when he was at Hibs.
It’s like nobody believes you down here until you come down and do it. When I get to play with them for Scotland they rave about the league – they rate it so highly. That made the decision to leave Celtic easier for me.
Bournemouth’s 1-0 win away to Cardiff yesterday sent them to the top of The Championship with 18 points from eight matches, two more than Fulham, West Brom and Coventry.
CLICK HERE for Brendan Rodgers’ frustration at not getting McGinn signed from Hibs