I came 'very close' to joining Nottingham Forest in 2017 but now play in the Champions League for Aston Villa
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Nottingham Forest almost signed a now recognised Premier League star back in 2017.
Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ola Aina, Anthony Elanga and Elliot Anderson are just a few examples of some brilliant business conducted by Nottingham Forest in recent seasons.
It now looks as if Forest could fetch a record fee for Murillo, with suggestions it would take an offer in excess of Harry Maguire’s record fee as a centre-back of £80 million.
Meanwhile, Milenkovic and Elanga have attracted the attention of Newcastle United, having impressed so much since moving to the City Ground.
Interestingly, it looks as if Forest came very close to pulling off another fantastic signing back in 2017, but were snubbed at the last moment by a now Aston Villa player.
John McGinn came ‘very close’ to joining Nottingham Forest
John McGinn currently plays his football at Aston Villa, the club he decided to join back in 2018 from Hibernian for a fee under £3 million.
It’s safe to say that the small fee paid for his services has more than quadrupled during his time at Villa Park, as he’s one of their more established members now.
After all, he played a big part in them securing Champions League football for this season.
However, it could have been so different if it wasn’t for his agent back in 2017.
John McGinn, when speaking in an interview with Graham Hunter back in 2021 (as per The 72), admitted that he was ‘very close’ to joining Nottingham Forest.
"The summer before [joining Aston Villa], I was very close to going to Nottingham Forest on deadline day.
"Ironically it was Mark Warburton who was in charge at the time. But on deadline day it was tough because you have to balance when this opportunity was coming around. I was loving my time at Hibs, but I wanted to test myself at the higher level.
"Full credit to my agent at the time, it would have been easy for him to do what I was being pressurised by Forest to do and push through the move.
"But it's not in my nature, it's not what I wanted to do and he was fully on-board with that."
- READ MORE: Nottingham Forest fans all call for 'unbelievable' transfer as £60m star becomes available
Where would John McGinn fit in Nottingham Forest’s side today?
Well, the middle of midfield is actually an area that Nottingham Forest don’t need strengthening.
Elliot Anderson, Ryan Yates and Nicolas Dominguez have performed fantastically this season, as well as Morgan Gibbs-White when he’s been fit.
Plus, the likes of Ibrahim Sangare and Danillo are set to return from injury, which will bolster things even more.
Perhaps the one area that McGinn could benefit Forest would be with his creativity when players like Gibbs-White and Anderson aren’t available, as that has been a weakness.
