John McGinn lifts lid on ‘uncomfortable’ secret, avenging brutal lows and Aston Villa future
John McGinn opens up about his seven years at the club, his future and how he’s in the best shape of his career at Aston Villa
John McGinn feels at the peak of his powers and insists he’d be happy to stay at Aston Villa into his 40s as he relentlessly pursues silverware with the club.
The Villa captain could make his 300th appearance in claret and blue on Thursday night when Villa host Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League. It would also be his first appearance since signing a new contract extension, which keeps him at the club until the summer of 2028.
McGinn has played a crucial role in Villa’s rise from the Championship to the Champions League last season and will now look to lead the club forward with no question marks over his future.
However, having turned 31 last month, the midfielder doesn’t want to look too far ahead just yet.
“When you get older, each birthday actually becomes quite miserable because you think, ‘Oh no,’ that’s my genuine thought,” he admits. “My dad said that to me: ‘What’s up with you?’ I said, well, I’ve hit ‘the big three.’ And everyone gets obsessed with it, but in my career, I always play better when I’ve got a point to prove, and I think now I’m actually in the best condition I’ve been in a long time physically, feeling as fit as ever.
“I am very close to my agent, who has been with me since the start of my career, David, and he is different from other football agents,” McGinn adds. “He doesn’t just care about the contract, he cares about the person.
“He cares about what you’re doing off the field and what you’re doing next – your next target. In the summer, we had an honest chat, me and him. He is able to say what he likes to me.
“He said, the first day of pre-season, I want you to come in like you’ve never looked before. I went to America to work with a woman called Natalie, who trains many serious NFL players and UFC players during the off-season to keep them in tip-top shape.
“Aye, she absolutely beasted me! It was 45-degree heat in Arizona. It was really, really tough. The benefits of that were that I came back in the best shape I’ve been in for a long time.
“I’ll never be the fastest or the strongest in the team, but I can give myself the best chance. Hopefully I’ll be back in America for the World Cup, but if not, I’ll be back there again.”
While Villa do have an ageing squad, McGinn’s leadership remains an invaluable asset to Unai Emery, who has a long history of valuing experienced players in the dressing room.
However, McGinn isn’t content to simply play the role of a happy passenger in the years ahead – he’s determined to keep pushing himself and continue improving at Villa.
“I watch my brother and he’s 35. Me and him have very different body shapes. He’s like a stick, skinny as anything, but there’s genuinely no difference from when he was 30 to 35. I’ve not asked him, but he has another two or three years left in him,” McGinn says.
“Here, you look at Victor [Lindelof] and Lucas [Digne], how they go about their business to keep themselves in an amazing condition. I still think mentally is really important, I still feel fresh. I don’t come in and think this is a chore or it’s just another day.
“I’ve seen the other side of football where I’ve been relegated, and had tricky times, so I’m still fortunate to drive in here every day. I’m grateful for where I am, and that space in your brain – I don’t think some realise the impact football has.
“Some people come to the end of their career and they’re finished mentally. Physically they are fine, but mentally not. They regret it because they might play five-a-side and they feel fresh, and they just needed a break.
“I feel mentally strong as ever to take on whatever challenge comes. You need to be because the manager is every single day on my case. If I’m off it at all, he will remind me. I’m sure until the day one of us leaves, whether that’s me or him, that won’t change.”
So, what’s the secret behind McGinn’s durability?
“It makes me feel uncomfortable because I am from a very humble part of the world, and they will all laugh at me and wind me up for it, but I do have a chef at home,” he confesses.
“I am a big kid, so if I never had these things in place, the structure of Mikey in the house every night cooking me healthy food, I would pop to Nando’s every now and again. That has helped me a lot.
“For any young player coming to Aston Villa now, there is a stigma toward it. There definitely is in Scotland. It is like, what are you doing with a chef, who do you think you are? I can see it because it used to be me thinking that. But I think it is an investment in myself.
“It keeps me in the best possible condition. I know when I am home every night I am eating a healthy dinner. It helps me recover better and keep in shape. Unfortunately, he is a Coventry fan. He turned up one day in their kit, but we’ll let him off because we have a good relationship.”
“It’s quite funny. I was more nervous about telling my siblings and my mom and dad about the idea of having a chef than actually having one,” the Scotland international admits.
“Just because of what we have had to do growing up. My mom and dad were always running us about to training, and if ever my dad was cooking, it was always whatever was left in the fridge. I am obviously very fortunate now, and my family have been very supportive. Until today, I have managed to keep it (the chef) pretty quiet!”
Some outsiders suggested that following Emery’s arrival, McGinn might be left behind by the new era that began three years ago after Steven Gerrard’s sacking.
He has more than proven those doubters wrong, but McGinn won’t rest until his name is firmly etched in the club’s history books – not just as captain during one of Villa’s most successful periods in recent memory, but as a player who lifted silverware for the club.
Asked if his Villa highlight is yet to come, McGinn responds: “Aye, definitely. It’s been an amazing journey and I have achieved so much, but everyone knows what would eclipse what we have already achieved. If it takes me until I’m 37, 38, or even 40, I’m just so determined for that to happen. Aye, hopefully the best is yet to come.”
“I talk about three (moments),” McGinn continues. “There was one feeling at the start, when I didn’t play in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley against Man City, which was horrible watching. I remember thinking, I want more of that, but our cup runs have been pretty rubbish.
“Then we get to the semi-final of the Conference League and we lose that. That was number one. Then we get to the semi-final of the FA Cup and lose that. That’s number two. Number three was PSG in the quarter-final. All of these feelings were the exact same for everyone. We know we could have done a bit more.
“Even taking the Champions League winners to the last 10 minutes, I think everyone in that ground thought we could have gone on and won that game, and we believed that. The feeling of those games were exactly the same. As captain and the person responsible for trying to bring silverware back here, you feel it twice as much.
“The semi-final in the Conference League and Champions League semi-final, they were big nights for us, big moments in which we haven’t delivered. Every time we go into a big game now, we have that determination in the back of our heads to prove this team we have built over the past five or six years is worth more than a quarter-final, worth more than a semi-final.
“The determination, I can feel it this year. I can feel we want to prove a point. I think until we do that, there will always be questions asked. As captain, you feel that probably twice as much, but when that day finally comes, you will feel it positively, twice as much.”
“It’s brutal, absolutely brutal because you just feel deflated because of how much you have put into the season, how much, for example, the Conference League, how much we grafted to turn the previous season round to get there,” McGinn explains.
“You don’t think about the 90 minutes, you think about what you have put in to get to that stage. Then the FA Cup semi-final, you finally get a good run together, we go into the game and don’t deliver. So you think about all those years you have wasted – third round, fourth round.
“Probably managers take for granted that competition sometimes, but seeing the Villa fans at Wembley again was amazing and made us determined to try and get back there. But then the PSG one especially, how hard it was for us.
“We were a goal away from relegation back to the Championship and to get to the quarter-final of the Champions League and come so close was tough. Even though the plaudits from outside were positive, we may never get a better chance to get to a Champions League semi-final.
“I think those nights have made us so much more experienced as a group. We’ve had a lot of praise over the past few years, but in those moments, a lot of criticism. All of it, whether it has been praise or criticism, has been warranted.
“I think over the piece, if you are a Villa fan, you are looking at the last few years at this squad and being proud. But I think we have another step to go and a lot more to come from everyone.”
