Hibs sporting director Graeme Mathie says he’s sending ‘praying hand emojis’ to John McGinn’s agent over his potential switch to Liverpool.
The former Hibs midfielder has shone for Aston Villa since his 2018 move from Easter Road, establishing himself at Premier League level. Liverpool are looking for a midfielder this summer and McGinn is said to be one potential target, rated at around £50 million.

McGinn has been linked with Liverpool. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Hibs have a sell-on fee of around 15% and any potential Liverpool move would make the cinch Premiership club millions. Mathie tells NTOF that he’s already sending messages to the former Hibs player and his agent: “Every time there is a link I send it to his agent with praying hand emojis saying ‘Is there any chance this summer could be the time we get a bit of a sell-on?’
“He always comes back with laughing emojis and doesn’t tell me too much. But fair play to John, I think you can see at Euro 2020 with Scotland he has gone and played against some of the best players in the league again and shown and done well. So it’s no surprise he is being linked with these types of moves.
“We had both his brothers, Stephen and Paul, here last year. They speak about how affectionate he is about Aston Villa and how big a club it is so it can probably only be one of the top four or five teams in the country that John could feasibly leave Aston Villa to go and join.
“When I saw the Liverpool link I thought ‘That’s one that could be quite interesting’ and if it goes for the numbers quoted I have already done my calculations to see how much Hibs are getting out of it. It was a relatively big calculator I needed, that’s for sure.”
NTOF’s full interview with Hibs sporting director Graeme Mathie is on our YouTube channel, which offers exclusive interviews, post-match discussion, in-depth debate, and much more – LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and don’t miss any of our videos.