Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn is feeling positive about both his own and the club’s prospects for the upcoming 2021/22 season.
The 26-year-old played a mammoth 51 games for Villa and Scotland during the last campaign, with his season ending when his country exited Euro 2020 at the group stage in June.
And after a few weeks on holiday to reflect on last season, McGinn has come back determined to kick on as Villa look to make moves up the Premier League table.
He said: “You live and breathe to play football with supporters in the stands, so when that’s not possible it is tough, especially in the Premier League.
“I was trying to overcome my injury problems and thankfully they’re all gone now and I’m just trying to get better all the time.
“I feel like I had a decent season overall, but there’s certainly room for improvement. I know what I can bring to the team and it’s about working on that with the coaching staff.
“It’s amazing to be part of, the club’s going in the right direction. We came back into Bodymoor and the changes they’ve made are different class, it just makes you feel that you’re at a proper club being run well and going in the right direction.”
An 11th place finish represented progress, but it was tinged with a feeling of what might have been after a strong first half of the campaign.
McGinn feels the ever-improving core of the squad will help the club achieve their ambitions with the aid of additions in the mould of recent signings Emiliano Buendía, Ashley Young and Leon Bailey.
“The teams that got into Europe have had years to build and we’ve had massive turnovers in transfer windows,” he said.
“Now we’ve got players coming into good ages. We’re going to be at Villa for years to come and hopefully with the more Premier League games we get under our belt, the more experienced we are, the more we can push up the table.
“Hopefully we can add to the squad and get some top-class players because this is a place where people want to come and play football.”
Watch the full interview with McGinn below...
