Celtic’s failure to sign John McGinn has unearthed Ryan Christie as a star for years to come

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There is no doubt that Celtic’s recent revival has revolved largely around the form of Ryan Christie. The 23-year-old has taken his chance after injury problems and is performing brilliantly for both club and country.

He scored the only goal for Celtic in a 1-1 draw with Motherwell yesterday and has been in fine form. In his last seven games, he has scored six goals and assisted three. He has been a fine revelation and a vital piece of the jigsaw for Celtic after injuries to Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham.

Of course, it could have been a completely different story.

This summer, Aston Villa signed John McGinn from Hibernian for a fee in the region of £2.75 million. Celtic had also been interested in the Scotland international. As reported by The Scottish Sun, the Bhoys had three bids rejected for the player this summer. A £2 million offer was the final one tabled by Celtic for his services. The Edinburgh club valued him at £4 million if selling to a Scottish rival.

There is hardly any doubt that if McGinn was at Celtic, Christie would not have been getting these chances for the first-team. In fact, it is likely he might have been loaned out again – with Sunderland keen in the summer.

Not signing McGinn has given Celtic reason to play Christie and the results have been clear to see.