John McGinn has admitted he believed his time at Aston Villa was up after Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard.
Unai Emery has made quite the impact at Aston Villa after landing the job back in October 2022. The Spaniard guided the Villains to Europa Conference League qualification last term after a poor start to the season under Gerrard.
One man who had been struggling under the former Villa boss was John McGinn, who had only recently been named as the club’s captain.
McGinn initially struggled to break into Emery’s side after his arrival and the Scotsman has admitted he thought his days at the club were numbered.
McGinn thought Emery was going to sell him
Speaking to TNT Sports, McGinn opened up on what was a difficult start to last season for him.
“I thought I was done,” he admitted. “At that time, you kind of have a feel as a player. You think right, at the time the supporters thought I was honking. I just came out of the team, the team started doing well again for a couple of games.
“You’re not stupid as footballer, you think right you might have to start looking elsewhere, which I did.
“I spoke to the manager, he had every stat, every detail on his notepad in appearances I’ve played for St Mirren, Hibs, goals. Then he asked what’s your preferred position and I said just not on the bench like the last few games.
“He looked through and I thought ‘what’s he going to say?’ but he went seriously and started circling positions. I said I’d play there, I’d play there.”
McGinn was then asked if he believes Emery had a position in mind for him after taking over at Villa Park.
“I don’t know,” the Villa skipper responded. “I think he was getting a gage on why I hadn’t been playing so well.
“He then brought up the Scotland goals, why are you scoring goals like this for Scotland, why are you not for Aston Villa? Maybe thank you for Steve Clarke putting me higher up the pitch because I said I play here for Scotland, in the right-sided 10, which I hadn’t done before.
“Steve Clarke put me in there, showed a bit of faith and I started getting some goals. From there, he said ‘Ok, tomorrow [before the Manchester United game], you might play, you might not’. So I thought I’ve got a chance here.
“After that, I was like right he’s brilliant. You could just tell right away. Next game I was on the bench and I thought here we go.
“But I came on and the next game started and ever since then I’ve played the majority of games which is good.”
McGinn got 20 minutes under his belt in the 3-1 win over Man United back in November 2022.
The 29-year-old went to start the following game against Brighton and hasn’t looked back since.
It’s fair to say that the Scotsman wasn’t in the best of form before Emery’s arrival but he’s now playing a key role as Villa push for a top-four finish this season.
The post ‘Thought I was done’: 29-year-old Aston Villa player admits he thought Unai Emery was going to sell him appeared first on TBR Football.