Aston Villa fans took to Super John McGinn as soon as he joined from Hibernian in 2018. Winning admirers at Villa Park and beyond for his all-action style of play, the Scotland international scored at Wembley to help secure the club’s return to the Premier League in 2019.
Fast forward seven years and he celebrated his 300th appearance for the club before creating history on a memorable night in Istanbul on May 20, 2026, leading Villa to a 3-0 triumph over Freiburg in the final of the UEFA Europa League.
McGinn duly became the first Villa captain to lift a trophy for 30 years as he led the club to only the second major European honour in its long and established history.
He missed only one Premier League match during the 2020/21 campaign, scoring three times and picking up six assists as Villa finished 11th. After enjoying another strong season in 2021/22, the Scot was named captain in July 2022.
The midfielder captained Villa to a seventh-placed finish during the 2022/23 campaign, helping his side secure a coveted European place. His form saw him rewarded with a new contract in June 2023.
McGinn enjoyed 53 appearances during the 2023/24 season as Villa reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League and finished in the top four of the Premier League for the first time since 1995/96, securing a spot in Europe's elite club competition.
He completed the Championship to Champions League circle for Villa at the beginning of the 2024/25 season, as the Villans won their first game against BSC Young Boys in Switzerland.
McGinn opened the scoring in the club's third league phase match against Bologna in October 2024, netting his first Champions League goal.
It was one of three strikes in Europe, with his solo run and finish in the quarter-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain earning the club's Goal of the Season award.
The campaign, in which McGinn also led out Villa at Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final, saw him make his 250th appearance for the club.
He enjoyed an incredible 2025/26 season, making 44 appearances and scoring 10 goals, including five in the Europa League - most memorably a brace in the club's dramatic semi-final success over Nottingham Forest at Villa Park.
McGinn celebrated iconic European silverware, etching his name into the club's history books, and was named in the Europa League Team of the Season, before going on to help secure a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League and the prospect of Champions League football once more.
On the international stage, the Glasgow native won Player of the Match on his senior Scotland debut in 2016. He went on to feature for the Tartan Army at the delayed European Championship finals in 2021 as well as Euro 2024.
McGinn was duly named in Scotland's squad for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, netting their first goal of the tournament in a 1-0 win over Haiti, in what was Scotland's first appearance on the world stage since 1998.
